History of the Protestant Church in Sabah, Malaysia

by T. A. Forschner

1993 Kudat

A translation from the Usuran di Gorija Protestant sid Sabah, from an original text written in
the Momogun language.

Preface by the President of the Protestant Church in Sabah, referring also to the first part
of a general church history and the History of the Protestant Church in Sabah

This history of the Church of Christ worldwide and the history of the Protestant Church in
Sabah (PCS) follows the growth and the life of the Momogun around Kudat as developed
according to the habits of the Rungus tribe. The first part documents the history of the Church
of Christ worldwide, giving an account of the origins of the church. The second part is
concerned with the history of the church in Sabah.
The history of Sabah prior to the arrival of the missionaries working amongst the Momogun
has been included to explain the circumstances surrounding the beginning of their work in
preaching the gospel. Looking at the time before 1952, it is clear that there had been
missionaries before in Sabah, but they evangelised among the Chinese, while the RC
missionaries reached the Momogun in the vicinity of Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan with their
proclamation of the gospel.
The historical dates follow from what has been documented since the missionaries began
proclaiming the gospel, from 1952 to up until 1993. Rev. Traugott Forschner who, together
with other people, has written this book, admits that probably not everything has been
recorded, and other matters may no longer be remembered properly. There will be also be
omissions in the documentation of all the experiences due to the fact that they were not
recorded at the time of happening.
But now everyone can read and study this history and can form a picture of how the PCS
came into being, how this church grew from the time the missionaries from Europe arrived
and brought the gospel and how we Momogun received the power and love of God, leading
us to believe in God.
I am very pleased with this book, first and foremost because the work of Rev. Forschner and
his co-workers have been successfully completed. This book can help young people to learn
about the history of the PCS.
I, as president of the Protestant Church in Sabah, would like to thank Rev. Forschner on
behalf of the PCS for all his work, endeavours and assistance towards the growth of the PCS
through his work and his personal commitment.
Finally, my heart is full of thanks to God, as I know that God's blessing made the work and
preparation of this history book possible. This book will be part of the treasures of the PCS
and I hope that it will be a book, which teaches us about the history of the PCS.

1st August 1993 Hendry Ogodong Dangki, President of the Protestant Church in Sabah.

(Note: This Usuran do Gorija Sompomogunan om Usuran do Gorija Protestan sid Sabah
comprises a general church history which is not included in this translation. In its form and
contents it tried to cover the ground leading to an understanding of how the PCS is part of the
global Church of Christ. The preface of the president has been translated in its full length.)
The History of the Protestant Church in Sabah.

Introduction: Today, with the church now forty years old - if one counts the beginning as
being the arrival of the first missionary in Kudat - it has become clear that it would be a good
idea to document the whole history of the PCS, its beginnings and its development, also all
the experiences and confrontations the church had to face and overcome. If one considers how
Momogun people in earlier times used to tell the tale of their people, it showed that their
recollections never went back very far. Even after a short time, what and how things really
had happened was forgotten. For this reason, past events very soon became sagas and legends
and could no longer be accepted as historical facts. No person can report about events, which
he has not witnessed, experienced or even suffered himself. Even the story of one's father or
grandfather, having been told and retold again and again, would have been altered in some
way, either additions or shifts in meaning, while other facts would be by-passed. This means
the recollection of past events was not very accurate. To give an example:
In 1964 a headman of some 70 years of age told this story of the Rungus, the tribe living in
the vicinity of Kudat. This is his tale: When I tell you the history of former times of how Kudat
came into being, I shall not be able to tell you all my grandfather told me. I also cannot tell
you what I myself do not know. Only what I still remember shall I tell you. For this is in my
mind. At that time a Mr Ligis came to Kudat. As soon as he arrived and before he had any
assistant, he demanded that he rule over the Momogun people in Kudat. He took Tumanggung
as his middleman and said to him: Tumanggung, you and your people, start to plant coconut
palm trees, plant rubber trees, plant wet rice in irrigated fields, as many Chinese will be
arriving and occupying this land. Then you will no longer own any land. Now you,
Tumanggung, will be able to organize your people. It is clear, do not continue to live in
longhouses, do not keep moving from one place to the next. Consider opening up plantations
together , said Mr Ligis.
But Tumanggung answered, Mr. Ligis, he said, No, under no circumstances, said
Tumanggung. If we make holes in the ground, we shall die. If we make dams in the river, the
water will turn into slime. We shall not make any plantations, said Tumanggung. After this,
Mr Ligis stopped after Tumanggung said: This country has no chance. There was no way to
convince the stubborn Tumanggung.
When Mr Ligis left and was replaced by Mr Soromin- (the Momogun name for this district
officer who wore glasses =soromin) - he said the same and gave orders to Tumanggung, as
he was the one who could organize the people in the Kudat district. Like Mr Ligis, he
demanded that the Momogun make plantations and create irrigated rice fields. Although Mr
Ligis and Mr Soromin and whoever took over from them demanded the people to develop and
open up the land, nothing was planted. For the Adat forbade Tumanggung to obey. His
understanding and his considerations were different regarding the various adats. So
throughout the time of all the officers coming and going in Kudat, nothing happened for the
well being of the Momogun. Tumanggung had taken the adat as reasons for opposing the
rulers. It was the adat that made him oppose. It was also not just Tumanggung the headman
who did not understand, but also his people, and they were even more opposed than he. They
reasoned about one thing and the other, but Tumanggung kept on saying, it is only maize and
rice that we plant. There would be no way to plant coconut trees, rubber trees or rice sown in
ploughed fields, providing irrigation by making dams across the rivers. No, never. We must
practice shifting cultivation. This is our life. But Mr Ligis and Mr Soromin's demands for
irrigation meant that they would plant in the same field year after year in order to use the
ground again and again, once opened up through hard labour, so this work on the land would
not be in vain. This is what Mr Ligis suggested for Kudat. He had seen that the Momogun
were very, very poor. But it was their adat that led them to say no. They did not yet
understand the orders of Mr Ligis and Mr Soromin.
Now, this is my story about the past, said this person. He was the then headman of the village
Barambangun. His name was Lagan.
Now if we look into this story it is obvious that much of what is part of the history of Kudat
was not mentioned. For example, at the time the British entered Sabah and made Kudat the
capital of Sabah - at that time known as British North Borneo -, Momoguns still lived on the
peninsula of Kudat. There was a tidal river called Tomborungus, and it is most probably this
river from which this particular tribe of the Momogun’s name, RUNGUS, has been taken. As
a large part of this stretch of land near the harbour was overgrown with Lalang, a kind of
savanna grass called gutad by the Rungus, the place was given the name Kudat. Nothing is
mentioned about the government building, the harbour for big ships, how the first Chinese
arrived and how they settled at Lausanba, the place still called the Old Settlement. After only
eighty years all this has disappeared from memory. It is for this reason that we should right
away begin to make a written record of the history of the church in the form of a book so that
nothing is forgotten and every step towards the establishment of the church is explained, also
how the church has further developed and how the constitution of the church was made and
has become what it is now. From this story it will be easy to understand the aims of the
organisation, the form and role of the church within the Sabah population, and what the
church plans are regarding its future in the time to come. The experiences of the past might
even help to understand the challenges of the present and the future and thus help us to decide
on the way and work needed by the church to secure its growth and life.

The past in Sabah

From the time prior to the British rule, almost nothing has been recorded in writing. Some of
the legends are somewhat like stories. But it is not possible to sort out when, what and which
people they involved and where these stories and experiences happened. It is not even clear
where the Momogun came from or the other people that entered Sabah, or what is told about
the quarrels between these people which even led to head hunting, killing and magic sorcery.
The history of the countries of Asia indicates this: from around the eighth century AD until
the tenth century, there was a kingdom of Buddhist background which had spread all over the
islands between the Asian and Australian continents, Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan and Sulawesi
and the thousands of smaller islands there. In quite a few places one can still see ruins of
buildings and Buddhist temples like Borobodur in Java. After that a Hindu kingdom took over
the islands and occupied this former kingdom and spread the Hindu religion. This rule lasted
until 1378 when its king Majapahit was defeated.
Yet Sabah was under a different influence, if the documents of the Chinese emperor are
correct. These documents state that a Tumpu of Brunei with the Chinese name Hiangta visited
China. His palace in Brunei had still a roof made from the palm branches of the Rumbizo
palm tree; and the Tumpu wanted to trade with China, selling iron wood trunks, turtle shells,
elephants’ tusks and trading in Chinese porcelain of great value, gongs and special tasty and
expensive food stuffs. It is said that the Tumpu fell into dependence on the Chinese emperor,
paying an annual tax to be sent to China every year.
There is another report from 1082 AD stating that the Tumpu Sri Maya from Brunei went to
China to deliver the tax. This is all written in the history of the Chinese emperor. If other
history books and reports were (to be) studied, there would probably be other matters and
events coming to light, which are still hidden in those old books.
As for the Islam religion, starting in 622 AD at Mecca in Arabia, Islam grew towards the East
till it arrived on the Malayan peninsula, building a castle at Malacca in 1403. Not long after
the inhabitants of Malacca had converted to Islam, the Sultan of Malacca began to rule over
the whole of the Malayan peninsula. He also made agreements with the emperor of China and
the Tumpu of Brunei. Brunei sent tax to China on ten occasions between 1410 and 1425.
After that the Tumpu of Brunei Marajakali submitted himself to the Sultan of Malacca
Manshursha.
With the submission of the Tumpu of Brunei under the rule of Manshursha, the Tumpu
assumed the title of a sultan and embraced the Islamic religion, and also ordered that the
whole of Brunei should embrace Islam. The former name of this Tumpa was Alak Bertaka,
but his Moslem name was Sultan Muhammad. He belonged to the Bisaya tribe, people who
were still illiterate. One of his sons married into a Chinese family who lived near the
Kinabatangan river. His name was Sultan Ahmad. The second son became son-in law of the
Sultan Sulaiman of Malacca.
After a hundred years of Moslem rule in Malacca, people from Portugal arrived. Malacca
came under the rule of the Portugese king in 1511. At that time there were quite a few
Chinese who had settled in the Malayan peninsula, being married to Moslems without being
forced to convert to Islam. But the Sultan of Malacca, having been defeated, fled and moved
(together) with many people who were traders to Brunei and to places near tidal rivers all
over the islands. They wanted to carry on their trade amongst the people of South Asia, but
the king of Portugal also tried to take over the trading business in this region.

At the time when the Europeans reached Malacca 1509 and Brunei 1521, Sabah was divided
into two spheres of influence. The Western part was under the power of the Sultan of Brunei,
while the Eastern part was under the rule of the Suluk Sultan. As soon as the Portugese had
arrived at Malacca and the islands of the Philippines, another nation in Europe tried to
compete with Portugal sailing all over the world. This was Spain. Spain sent their boats
towards the West instead of the East as the Portugese had done, sailed around South America
and reached the Philippines and the island of Palawan from the Pacific Ocean, passed by
Banggi and came to Brunei in 1521. Captain Pigfetta, who had taken over Captain Magellan’s
ship, (Magellan had been killed in the Philippines while entering their land), asked in Brunei
what the island was called and in reply heard the name Brunei. As he thought this would be
the name not only of this particular place but of the whole island, the whole island of
Kalimantan from North to South, East and West became known in Europe from that time on
as the island of Borneo. Pigfetta reports that at that time Brunei had a population of more than
25 000 people. In fact, Magellan and Pigfetta were the first explorers to sail around the whole
globe by travelling West. It took them three years, thus confirming with this journey the fact
that the earth is a sphere which can be circumnavigated. (Before this, people had believed the
earth had the form of a round plate.)
From that time on the European nations sent boats in order to occupy the countries and
islands and make them their colonies. The Dutch occupied Java in 1619 and opened up the
station Batavia, the present Jakarta. They founded a trading company, the East India
Company, as they considered everything east of India to be East India. This company also
conquered the castle of Malacca in 1625 and closed the boats' passage between Sumatra and
Malacca. No vessel was allowed to pass through the Strait of Malacca without paying revenue
and tax for all the goods and products on board. The Netherlands wanted to make a profit
from everything that was transported from the East to the West.

At the same time as the Spanish and the Portugese were occupying the islands in this region
and contracts were being made with the rulers of China and Japan, there were Catholic
missionaries who came on these boats intending to establish the Roman Catholic Church in
China, Japan and the Philippines. In the Philippines, the RC church was established and all
the islands of the Philippines came under the rule of the King of Spain for hundreds of years.
In China, the emperor first accepted the missionaries as they taught the sciences in the
imperial palace. These missionaries tried to adapt themselves to the Chinese customs. But
other missionaries of the Jesuit order indicted these teachers at the imperial palace before the
pope in Rome, complaining that they would betray the Christian faith by assimilating Chinese
rites. As soon as this became known to the emperor, he forbade any Christian activity in
China and expelled all of them from China.
In Japan, there had also been the beginnings of establishing a Christian church. Already more
than two hundred thousand Japanese had converted to Christianity. But when the Japanese
emperor got the impression that the Western kings intended conquering Japan, he
immediately forbade any further Christian activity in spreading the gospel and commanded
that the Christian religion should be altogether extinguished. This was in the 18th century.
At that time the Western nations had taken over all the larger countries of the East. Then in
1878, the British and the Sultans of Brunei and Suluk agreed that the Chartered Company
should enter and buy Sabah, making Sabah its property. As soon as British rule started, there
was an invitation to the Chinese people to come and help develop the land of Sabah. This
actually is the beginning of the history of the church in Sabah, the first Basel Fui Church,
which today is known under the name of The Basel Christian Church of Malaysia.

The Chinese Churches in Sabah and other Churches.

The story of the Basel Fui Church.

Among the Chinese arriving in Sabah in 1882 and all the following groups of Chinese, there
were from the beginning quite a few people who had embraced Christianity while still in
China. They belonged to congregations in the Quandong province and were Hakka who had
become Christians through the work of the Basel Mission there. The Basel Mission had
started its work there in 1847. The first ones came to Kudat in 1884 and settled in Lausanba,
the place which today is still called Old Settlement, some eight kilometers from Kudat along
the Sikuati Road. At that time the area around Kudat was still partly primary jungle or
covered with Lalang grass where hill rice had been planted earlier after clearing parts of the
jungle. Other Christian Hakkas settled at Sandakan, Api-Api -Jesselton, the present Kota
Kinabalu on the so-called Signal Hill, at Manggatal, Tuaran, Tamparuli and Tenom. Shortly
after their arrival they considered how they could gather as Christian congregations along the
rules they had had in China. They thought about getting a building for a school, a teacher for
their children. This teacher could also, as in China, function as an evangelist and preacher for
the adults on Sundays. On Sundays, the school could be used as a church.
Eventually the number of Hakka Christians grew. They asked the Basel Mission to send a
pastor who would lead and organize them in Sabah. The Basel Mission agreed and sent Pastor
Schuele in 1905.He had been a carpenter before becoming a pastor. Stationed in Kudat. he
began his service amongst the Hakka congregations. As always, the missionaries of the Basel
Mission started by building a station on a piece of land acquired by the the Basel Mission. He
applied for a piece of land four kilometres along the route to Sikuati. He cut down the Ipil
trees on this piece of land, a hard, so-called iron wood, had them sawn into beams and planks
and built this house.. It was by no means easy to build such a house. He had no sawmill nor
planing machine. Everything was handmade in a highly professional manner: the doors,
windows, shutters. For the roof he acquired earthen tiles from a tile factory in India, a factory
which had been built in India to provide jobs for Indian Christians. This building remains the
headquarter of the PCS even today
When the Basel Mission heard that this building had been completed, and also that the capital
of Sabah had been moved to Sandakan, they asked Mr Schuele to move to Sandakan to get
another station ready. They wanted him to be near the government. By the time this station
was built, the First World War had started, which meant that Mr Schuele, being a German,
was interned and afterwards expelled from the British colony of North Borneo. This is how
the Basel Mission helped and assisted the Hakka Christians to get organized as congregations
in Sabah. After the war it took a long time before missionaries of the Basel Mission were able
to return to Sabah. In fact it was not until after the Second world war.
Yet the Chinese Christians, being farmers and traders, kept their faith that they inherited from
the time in China. Each congregation organized itself, their buildings, their upkeep and their
teachers and schools. They came together in their houses for worship and prayer. Those who
had some knowledge would lead the gathering. Quite a few teachers became pastors, who
could baptize the children, consecrate the marriages and lead the burial services according to
the Christian tradition.
After the First World War they again tried to call missionaries from Basel. But the governor
was against their coming as he feared that they would interfere in politics against the British.
At that time, the Basel Mission was also very short of funds. Due to this, the Christian Hakkas
considered their situation and decided to proceed with the establishment of their church with a
proper church order and a constitution, which was also acknowledged and registered by the
government. This would allow them to apply for land for building churches in the name of the
church. In 1924, the church was founded under the name of Borneo Basel Self established
Church, meaning that the church originated from the work of the Basel Mission, but had
been established in Borneo. From then on, each congregation had its own pastor called a
Muksu, while chief pastor called Zungmuk represented the whole church. Each congregation
organized all their own tasks, work, church building, school building, teachers, pastors, their
remuneration and the growth of the congregation. The congregation elected a layman as
chairman for the administration of the congregation. This person was responsible for the
necessary funding of all the work. All the congregations together had only occasional
meetings of their church elders to discuss and plan the progress of the church. It must be said
that at that time, it was rather difficult to meet and go to other places other than by boat
journey apart from places in the vicinity of Api-Api. To visit Kudat, Sandakan or Tawau was
a matter of weeks.
It is a pity that in the case of the Chinese church, even after having organized itself properly
and grown in numbers among the Hakka people, there were no considerations about a duty
towards the Momogun, Muruts or Samas. Only the upkeep and progress of the Chinese
church seemed to be on their minds.

The Roman Catholic Church in Sabah

Together with the Basel Christians, Christians of Roman Catholic background from mainland
China moved to and settled in Sabah in the 1880 ties and in the early 20th century. They had
been invited by the British rulers. The British did not distinguish between the confessions and
religions. Their aim was to get industrious people for the development of the land with the
aim of gaining a quick return from the Sabah-Colony. The Chartered Company wanted to
export coconut oil in order to provide cheap nutrition for the poor population of the industrial
areas in Britain. Working people, with their very small daily earnings, could not afford lard
and other high protein food produced in England. As coconut palm trees did not grow in
England with its cold winter season, the British had sought territory in this region and
therefore occupied Sabah and Sarawak. They never considered this occupation to be wrong.
They just intruded on our country and stole other people’s land, even by paying the sultans a
sum of some 35,000 Dollars.
The majority of the RC Christians belonged to the Hokien tribe, a section of the Chinese
population that spoke a different dialect. Even though the languages of Hakka and Hokien are
written using the same characters, also common to Mandarin, the main language of the
Chinese, these two dialects are so far apart that no communication is possible between these
two dialects. When they arrived in Sabah, they did not settle in different places to start up
their plantations. Side by side with the other settlers, they started plantations first near the
harbour settlements and then moving on further inland. They made use of already cleared
land, primary jungle which had been cleared for one or two rice planting seasons for use as
rice fields for the local Momogun, and had then been abandoned due to their custom not to
replant the same ground again and again. According to their understanding a rice field could
only be rented from the earth spirits for a short planting season, ( which is actually a very
good understanding of environmental ideas). So Chinese settlers just followed the clearing of
such fields and applied for permanent ownership from the colonial government, which had
declared all land of Sabah to be so-called Crown-land. In this way the British divided the land
among the Chinese for a very small sum. The land occupied by Chinese expanded more and
more, moving beyond the parts left behind by the shifting cultivation of the Momogun. In this
way they even avoided the very heavy labour involved in the clearing of primary jungle.
Momoguns had already accomplished this job by preparing their rice fields. The Chinese
converted any low land into irrigated rice fields. From these two kinds of yields of their land,
rice and coconut copra, they were able to provide their upkeep. They also grew vegetables
and kept animals such as water buffaloes, pigs and chicken.
The RC-Christians, too, considered how their Christian community could be developed
according to their RC tradition. They built schools and churches side by side with the Basel
Christian churches. The road leading to these churches was given the name Mission Road.
One can also find a Mission Road, or now Jalan Mission, in Kudat, in Sandakan, in Kota
Kinabalu, Tuaran, Tamparuli and Manggatal.
As for the RC church, which is under the rule of the Pope in Rome, there are differences
when compared to the protestant churches. This church does not differentiate between people
and countries, being a church that is present around the whole world as an international
organisation. The Pope, called the Holy Father, is in succession of St. Peter, who had been
declared the deputy of Christ. Wherever there is a RC congregation, they are under the
auspices of the Pope regardless of race, country, language or government. As there were soon
quite a few RC congregations in Sabah, the Pope sent some missionaries to lead, teach and
organize the RC Christians in Sabah. These missionaries came from the Netherlands, from the
order of the so-called White Fathers, with their traditional while gown. In assessing their task
they realized that there were not only Hokien people who had settled in Sabah but also the
original local people, the Momoguns, living near Api-Api or Jesselton, the place they had
chosen first. After contacting and meeting the Tanggara-Momogun in Penampang, some
missionaries stayed at Penampang with the idea that it was their task to also bring the Gospel
to the Momogun. So the Roman Church started in Jesselton, extended to Penampang, Tuaran
and went even inland as far as Bundu Tuhan, Tombunan, Keningau and Papar.
(If one wants to explain in short the difference between the RC Church and the Protestant
churches: the RC church originates from its leader who is called the deputy of St. Peter
holding the key to heaven. In Matthew 16 Christ said: You are Peter and upon this rock I will
build my church. I will give you the key of the kingdom of heaven. >Peter in Greek means
rock<. Now the RC church considers the Pope as being the one who knows how to understand
scriptures and gives instructions about what the Bible says. He rules over the whole church,
appoints the priests and bishops according to his will and the way he organizes the church.
There are various taboos such as eating meat on a Friday, as Christ died on a Friday. One can
only partake at the Eucharist after confessing ones' sin to the priest in the confessional by
naming all transgressions, faults and sins. Only after absolution would the person be clean
and ready to receive communion. In the communion the priest would consecrate bread and
wine to become the real body and blood of Christ. When eating, one would be biting into the
meat of Christ. As for the wine, only the priest drinks wine during the communion to prevent
a possible abuse of the wine through unruly drinking.
As only the Pope can explain the Bible, it came about in time that ordinary Christians were
not even allowed to read the Bible, let alone in ones' own language. It was only in the 1960’s
that a Pope consented and decreed that every RC Christian could read the Bible and that the
Bible should be translated into the mother tongues of all Christians, also that the services
should be held in their own language instead of the former church language, Latin. Another
extra is the way in which the mother of Jesus, Mary is honoured. One former pope had
declared Maria, who was the mother of Jesus, to have remained a virgin until death, meaning
that Maria was a woman who never had any sexual contact with a man. This implied that
Jesus was a person without any sin, as he was not the product of any intercourse. This is
connected with the other idea, namely of intercourse being a matter of sin, as being against
the will of God. In this understanding the RC church has been misled by the words written in
Psalm 51, where kind David confesses his sin of adultery. From this misunderstanding, it
followed in the RC church that any unity between male and female was sin. This even led to
the rule, that the pope forbids priests to marry. This rule has applied for seven hundred years
and is still valid, saying also, that only the holy priest could administer the Lord's supper and
lead and take care of the congregation.
The RC church also keeps in special honour the holy people, people who were killed because
of their faith, had become martyrs. To pray to these holy persons or even the mother of Jesus
Maria and ask them for intercession would make it easier to find Jesus or Gods' ear.
At the time of the Reformation when Martin Luther, Zwingli and Calvin departed from the
RC church, that RC church was very different from the RC church of today. Many of the
aberrations of the pope and the church then have since been done away with. Christians are
allowed and encouraged to read the Bible. The priests and bishops do no longer cooperate
with and look up to the rulers who oppress their people but see themselves on the side of the
oppressed and neglected people. In some congregations communion is served by moistening
the bread with wine, at least indicating that bread and wine is part of the gift of Christ. Also
the so-called inherited sin from the time of Adam and Eve is no longer stressed in the way it
had been done for centuries. Yet the present pope still speaks against any family planning and
proclaims that only the intercourse aiming at procreating a child is done without sinning.
If one evaluates the total faith of RC teaching in matters of baptism, communion and ministry
it seems that there is hardly any point of disagreement between RC, the orthodox and the
protestant churches., This was summarized in the Lima Agreement of 1982 when learned
people from all sides had accomplished a comparison of the different denominations. Only
the claim of RC that the Pope is to be the only possible leader of the whole of Christianity is
unacceptable for the other Christian denominations.

The Anglican Church

In encouraging again and again Chinese from mainland China to come and settle in Sabah it
happened that early in the 20th century one more group of people from the Quangshou
province came to Sabah. They belonged to the Anglican tradition. Their language differed
again from Hakka and Hokien. The name of this church group goes back to England,
originating from the time the English King Henry VIII forced the Christians in England to
depart from the Popes' rule and become independent, also allowing for the introduction of the
teaching of the reformation. Yet quite a few forms of the former tradition were kept and are
still part of Anglicanism: bishops who are still, so to speak, in the tradition of St. Peter. Even
in foreign parts this church still adheres to the name Anglican and considers each church to be
part of the Anglican Communion.
On arrival, these Anglican Christians followed the other churches in establishing schools and
churches by building them next to the others along the Mission Road. Now this particular
church got much support from many a colonial officer in the government, being themselves
members of the Anglican Church.
Considering the origin of this church, it becomes obvious that the real issues, which had led to
the reformation in England, were not the true cause for leaving the Roman church. Political
and personal differences between the Pope and the King had caused this departure.
Accordingly, at least three types of Anglicanism exist today, one being very close to the RC
tradition except for the adherence to the Pope, a second more liberal type and a third tradition
following rather the teachings of Luther and Calvin. The latter group follows a very open
liturgy without many dress traditions and colours, and rather emphasizes proclaiming the
gospel and admonishing people to become real followers of Christ. As King Henry VIII
made himself the lord of the Anglican Church, the Anglican Church still adheres to the idea
that the King or Queen of England leads the church. The Kings or Queen considered
themselves to be the Advocate of the Christian faith, a title still to be found on coins while
Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore were British colonies.

Other denominations
Between the two world wars another group of Christians came from China calling themselves
adherents of the True Jesus Church, an independent church in China, which tried to get rid of
any ties with the western churches. Their aim as church of Jesus was to get properly rooted in
the Chinese soil. The church could not flourish if only looking to Rome or England or any
other part of the world. The Church of Jesus was established as an original Chinese church
with Chinese Christian organisation, using Chinese forms and dresses, Chinese hymns,
Chinese music, and was not to incorporate any Western traditions and rites. Only in this way
could the church in China be the proper Church of Jesus. With this name they declared
themselves to be the only proper church of Jesus, something, which is very much reminiscent
of the situation in the Corinthian Church (see First Corinthian cap. 1, 22-25) where one group
called itself the group following Christ. Yet this claim to be the only group following Christ
properly makes this church unable to cooperate and communicate with the World Council of
Churches or the Federation of Christian Churches in Malaysia.

There was also the Borneo Evangelical Mission from Australia arriving in Sabah between
the two wars. This mission started in Lawas in Sarawak, where the headquarters are still to be
found. Following this they started up in Ranau. As this mission tried to reach more distant
people and places, they introduced with their arrival the means of transport used in their
homeland, making it possible to reach more distant places by aeroplane. They created
airstrips in many places by encouraging their adherents to build them. This mission has no
proper church background but is a rather open arrangement of individuals supporting the
spread of the gospel in foreign parts, in fulfilment of Christ's commands. The supporters are
members of different denominations like the Presbyterian, Anglican, Methodists, Baptists,
Congregationalists and others in Australia, as well as in England. Eventually the mission
established the Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) a body, which was very much lacking in terms of
form and order. Each congregation is more or less independent with the preacher and his
upkeep, its organisation and growth of the congregation. The leaders of the SIB have no real
influence over the local congregations. No governing assembly has the power to rule and
organize the way of this church. To be a Christian means only to follow the five fundamentals
of their faith:
a) The Bible is the true word of God right down to each letter and punctuation mark, without
any exceptions. The Bible is the true history of the earth and tells of the purpose of the world.
The Bible was written with the fingers of mankind, but the fingers were guided by the Holy
Spirit. One does not say: This is what Paul said, but rather, this word is God's teaching, has
been said by God and is truly the Word of God.
b) Concerning mankind: mankind is totally lost and sinful for eternity, far from God's grace.
Only when mankind is contrite, confesses its sinfulness and asks for forgiveness for those
sins, will salvation be possible. This applies to every single person right from one's birth on..
So many of their songs are full of references to the confession of sins.
c) To be a Christian means to be “reborn”. If a person cannot remember when and where this
new birth had happened, this would mean he or she was not yet saved. The Bible teaches that
men easily turn away from God. But when one turns again to God and returns to God (Marc
1,15) they call this being born again, which amounts to having already a ticket to heaven.
d) A Christian has to believe that Jesus died like an animal killed for appeasement - in the
Momogun tradition the term is the name of a castrated pig offered up to the spirits - to cool
God's wrath and anger. They say that God will not be appeased without an offering of blood
flowing. It is not accepted that the book Hebrew in the Bible only uses the example of the
offerings of a lamb to explain the death of Jesus, as in any case it is not easy to explain and
understand the work and death of Jesus. (St. Paul, in explaining the work of Jesus, uses the
phrase: God justifies the unjust person, also, God frees us from imprisonment, God delivers
us from slavery and bondage, God gives us freedom. The phrase of God atoning men by using
Jesus as sacrifice does not literally mean that Jesus is the one cooling the wrath of God on
account of men's trespasses, in order that God will be good again towards mankind.)
e) A Christian hopes and looks forward to the bodily return of Jesus into this world and time,
and the whole life and work of a Christian in the midst of mankind is concerned with the
preparation to meet Jesus. Activities in this world are of no value and meaning. Marriage,
daily work, earning a living, cultivating a field or garden or helping other people are purely
worldly activities and have no meaning in spiritual terms.
There are further limitations: a person is only holy if he or she does not smoke or drink
alcohol, does not chew betel, does not mingle among worldly matters but brings the gospel to
other people.
In Sabah, BEM started in Ranau then spread to Tampasuk, Taginambur near Kota Belud and
Tuaran. But in Tuaran there is another rule independent from the BEM. Today there is a Bible
School at Emaus near Poring. The headquarters of SIB are now in Kota Kinabalu.
The BEM from which SIB stems is called a Faith Mission, meaning a mission living totally
according to the belief that all necessary funds and personnel come directly from God's
command. Each missionary needs a supporting group in his/ her homeland, which provides
for the upkeep of this person while in Sabah. All the gifts and funds sent from Australia,
however much or however little, is used for the daily provisions of the missionaries. Only the
cost and upkeep of the aeroplanes are budgeted in a different way. In the same way,
congregations are taught and guided in terms of this way of independence: the congregation
gets established on its own and provides for its expenses, the church building and the
evangelist and pastor. There will be no funds from abroad. There is no assistance for the
development of the community in terms of planting or other things. (Only Mr White with the
Momogun name Asang opened up a sawmill at Taginambur and taught the people to saw and
provide building materials for church buildings and private houses around Tempasuk during
the 30’s and up to the sixties. Even pupils at the Bible School have to provide their own food
and expenses while in school. This means that in the four years of bible school, two years are
used solely to plant rice and other products for the provision of food for the pupils. The actual
teaching comprises just two years. Afterwards the congregation has to provide for its pastor
with as much or as little as the congregation can afford, and its pastor is able to encourage his
congregation towards his needs. There is no regular or set contribution towards the church
centre and the centre has not much influence in the various congregations. It is up to the
pastor, the evangelist and the congregation. To some extent this might be a good arrangement,
only collecting funds when there is a proper project. For then the congregation makes much
effort to obtain what is needed. The negative side of this is, if the teaching of the pastor or
evangelist does not tally with the feelings and opinions of some of the members or the whole
of the congregation, even if the teaching is according to the demands of the Bible and the will
of God, then there will be hardly any provision for the pastor. He and his family will be
starving and will have to look for another congregation. Only when the teachings of the pastor
and the wishes of the congregation are compatible with each other will the pastor have
enough to live on for himself and his family. Of course, as SIB folk neither smoke nor drink,
it will be easier to provide funds for the spreading of the gospel.
From the USA came the Seventh Day Adventists (SDA), a denomination going back to the
19th century in America. Back then, there was a man who quarrelled with his pastor, claiming
to possess the Holy Spirit and proper understanding of the scripture beyond the pastor's
knowledge. After a long argument he declared that the church was sinful, as the church did
not keep to the tradition of the seventh day or Sabbath as the Jews did. Only by maintaining
this day as a day free of labour would God be properly honoured, as this order went back to
the beginning of creation and mankind and had never been changed. Now this teaching has
become the focal point of the Faith of SDA. Of course, there is one verse in the Bible saying:
whenever the whole of mankind shall honour the Sabbath without any one person
transgressing this day, then the Kingdom of God will begin. On account of this, the SDA
claim: only we SDA people are the true followers of Jesus. All the other Christians are lost
for not honouring the Sabbath.
There are other demands: no smoking, (even though SDA people at Goshen plant and sell
tobacco and make a great deal of profit from growing tobacco). It is forbidden to eat pork as
is the case with the Jews, and it is forbidden to drink alcoholic drinks, tea or coffee.
Momogun women are not allowed to wear their traditional dresses or wear brass rings on
their legs and arms or have their hair plaited. All this would be from the demons. It is true that
SDA adherents try to forcefully convince other people about their faith, as this was one way
of entering heaven. This seems to be the very aim of life: to gain entry to heaven.
In this way, the congregation and their groups have flourished. Today there are millions of
SDA people all over the world. They have sent missionaries all over the world to start up
SDA churches. In Sabah they started at Tamparuli. There they have their headquarters and
their training centre. Many funds come from America in the form of clothes and money.
Some of their missionaries had been farmers, so they taught people in Sabah to plant rice in
irrigated fields and assisted the local people in applying for low land to be used for irrigation
as was the case near Kota Marudu. They got people settled there and gave this valley the
name Goshen from the place in Egypt where Jacob had settled. They said to these people:
You are the Hebrew folk living in the midst of the heathens.
Around 1950 there were a few SDA evangelists entering the Kudat District. They came to
Tamburulan and Merebau, places with a wide valley suitable for irrigated rice cultivation.
One of them, Bohan from Sumatra, started a congregation in Merebau and preached in
Kumbatang and Parapat.

After the Second World War there were also missionaries from the Baptist Church, a church
which only baptizes people once they have grown up. They believed that a child cannot be
baptised as it does not understand the meaning of baptism and cannot believe in Christ. They
do not accept that baptism is first a sign of God's blessing and grace given to mankind, even
to a newborn child.
A group of Lutheran missionaries from a protestant tradition, which puts a particular
emphasis on Luther’s teachings, came to Sabah after the war to assist in restoring schools and
churches which had been destroyed during the Japanese occupation. These Lutherans worked
with the Basel Church in KK and Sandakan. Later on, the Basel Christian Church joined the
Lutheran World Federation as the church had received much support and help from the
Lutheran Church in the USA. But the Baptists started their own church, following the
tradition of the Baptist Church in Southern USA. From there they received a great deal of
support for the spreading of the Baptist tradition in Sabah.

The beginning of the Protestant Church in Sabah

At the time when all missionaries were expelled from China (1950) after the establishment of
the Peoples' Republic of China, there was one missionary of the Basel Mission, pastor Bienz,
who moved on to Sabah. For a long time there had been revolutionary uproars amongst the
Chinese population due to instability in China. There was a lot of oppression of the landless
community by the few people that owned the land. Foreign countries tried to influence and
govern China. For some 35 years the country had struggled until Communism took over the
country. Their chairman Mao Tse Tung demanded that all foreigners who had tried to control
the Chinese people leave China, even the missionaries. He said that they would only use
religion as a means to gain power over the Chinese people. Actually, after the Opium War
(1840-42) the emperor of China had already been forced to agree to the spread of the Gospel
in China when he was besieged. In 1839 Chinese soldiers had found in the store houses of the
foreign traders some 20,000 cases of opium, each weighing a hundred weight, which was to
be sold illegally in the country. Despite a strict order against any trading of Opium, these
English, French and US traders had tried obscure ways and means of bringing opium into the
country. So the emperor commanded the soldiers to throw all the opium into the sea and
rivers so that it would be destroyed. On account of this the traders forced their respective
home country to go to war against the emperor and request payment for the destroyed opium.
The British, French, US and Netherlands governments ruled against the emperor, demanding
that he pay for all the opium and to agree that the sale of opium should be legalized and that
at the same time missionaries be allowed to come to China and evangelise the Chinese
people.
For Mao Tse Tung it was now a straightforward matter to forbid any further mission work by
people from outside the country. If there was to be a Chinese church, it should be established
independently and also find the necessary funds. No funds from outside would be acceptable.
The Chinese Church would have its own leaders and its own mission work. This was the
reason for expelling all missionaries. Even the missionaries of the Basel Mission were thrown
out, despite the fact that they had never interfered in trading or politics.
So the committee of the Basel Mission sent pastor Bienz to Sabah, thinking that there would
be work for him with the Basel Fui Church, which had been established in 1924 without the
support of the Basel Mission. Mr Bienz started to find his way in Sabah. He was advised to
stay in Kudat in the house originally built by pastor Schuele. This house had been an army
hospital during the Japanese occupation and many Japanese soldiers had died in this house.
So it may be that there was some reluctance on the part of Chinese pastors to move into this
building that had such a dubious background. Bienz and his family moved into this place and
he began to visit all the congregations of the Basel Fui Church from Tenom and Papar in the
West to Tawau in the East. While in Kudat, he visited the congregations in Pinangshoo,
Bakbak, Tamalang, Bandau and Pitas as far as his time allowed. It was a matter of course that
he saw some of the native Momogun people here and there, at the market or in the plantations
where they worked for the Chinese farmers. He also got to know that some Chinese had
married Momogun women. Those Chinese had been in the situation that they were very poor
and had no means to marry into a Chinese family by providing a substantial bridal price. To
marry a Momogun girl was less expensive.
Bienz, having understood this situation, asked where these people, called Dusun - meaning
jungle people, lived. The answer was, that they actually lived in the jungle, speaking their
own language, believing in the power of spirits and with a totally different attitude to life and
morality. There would be no way of mixing with them. They had no school and were opposed
to any development. Only in times when they did not have any food were they prepared to
work in the plantations. Yet even with only a small pay they would be hard-working and clear
the Chinese plantations from the undergrowth..
There were a few Chinese Christians who wondered whether and how the gospel could also
be handed on to these people. One of them was the teacher Tong at Tamalang, himself
married to a Momogun woman. But even he had not found the time and the opportunity for
this, being a teacher in a Chinese school and with a very small salary. He needed to have his
own plantation and find enough to provide for his family and children.
One day, Bienz heard the District Officer in Kudat remark that “these Momogun here are of
no value”. He would give them ten or maybe twenty years before they would have ceased to
exist. He claimed that there was no chance at all for them to learn to change their attitude and
agree to work for the development of the country. For them there would be no hope for
change or for any future.
Despite such utterances by the Chinese and government officials, Mr Bienz thought about
these natives and encouraged some Chinese to assist him in meeting some of the Momogun
people and visiting some of their longhouses. He wanted to tell them about the gospel. He
asked Mr Wong Khiam Fuk, the church elder and trader in Sikuati, who was able to converse
in Momogun, to accompany him to the longhouses at Lajong, Handal, Angkob and even
Rondomon and Kimihang. There was not a single longhouse where they were not allowed to
enter. Following the tradition of the Chinese church, Pastor Bienz used some posters in order
to explain the way to God. Mr Wong translated his speech into Momogun. From this attempt,
Bienz understood that the people in the longhouses were ready to hear the Good News of the
Bible. There would be no reason for not evangelising amongst the Momogun.
Then at Christmas 1951,some Momogun from Kimihang and Masangkung working in
Chinese plantations near Tamalang approached Mr Bienz when he held the Christmas service
at Tamalang. They asked him whether it would be possible to watch how the Chinese
celebrated Christmas. He invited them along. They sat at the back of the church and listened
to the Christmas story, although it was told in the Chinese language, the story of the birth of
Christ. They were also invited after the service to join the congregation in eating biscuits and
drinking tea. There Mr Bienz asked them for their opinion about what they had understood
and how they felt about it. Their answer was positive, requesting to hear more about this
news.
After this encounter, Mr Bienz wrote to the committee in Basel asking the Basel Mission to
consider the posting of a missionary to Sabah for work amongst the Momogun. He said in the
letter that he himself had no time for frequent visits to these people, as he was fully engaged
with his work with the Chinese church. He also said that it was not sufficient to approach
these people via an interpreter: the Swiss pastor speaking Chinese, needing a translator from
Chinese into Momogun.
The committee in Basel discussed this request and decided to send the missionary Honegger,
who was on leave from his work in Kalimantan. He was to come to Kudat and find out about
possible mission work amongst the Momogun people. This meant that the committee was still
questioning the possibility and need for opening up a new mission enterprise. Yet Pastor
Honegger, as soon as he had received this order and had read the report from Mr Bienz,
declared decisively: For me this is not a question of trying to establish whether there is work
to be done, no, the proclamation of the Gospel at Kudat is my task and my duty.
So on November 23rd in 1952, Honegger arrived in Kudat and stayed with Mr. Bienz. He had
left his wife and children in Switzerland. The committee was still of the opinion that his task
was primarily to study the situation. Only after a positive result would his family follow and
join him.
One week after his arrival, Honegger accompanied Bienz to Sikuati. At that time it was only
possible to use a car as far as Sikuati, which was the end of this rather narrow country road.
They met the church elder and asked him to accompany them to the longhouse at Rampai. A
few days later, on December 9th, they asked the teacher Tong to lead them the longhouse of
Masangkung. In Masangkung they talked to the headman Tuorong and agreed with him that
he would invite the headmen of all the longhouses in the vicinity of Sikuati to meet them
there on December 11th.
On the day of this meeting there were 43 headmen and elders from the longhouses near
Sikuati meeting Pastor Honegger and Bienz, as well as Mr Wong and the teacher Tong. They
gathered in the shed of the Bus company, made of a few posts and covered with Nipa palm
leaves forming the roof and walls. Actually the walls were rather torn apart already. Mr Wong
Khiam Fuk had prepared some biscuits and tea. Tuorong was there as well as Dompirok from
Tinutudan, Ditikon from Handal, Ronsuman from Merebau, Kumbani from Rampai, Tobubul
from Kimihang and many others. Everyboday had come. Mr Wong introduced Mr Bienz and
Honegger and Tuorong translated his words into Momogun. After this introduction Mr
Honegger, speaking in the Indonesian language, addressed them and explained the intention
behind his coming to Sabah. He asked them whether they would allow him to visit their
longhouses for the proclamation of the Word of God. Tuorong again translated his words into
Momogun and repeated Honegger’s request to visit the longhouses. Headman Dompirok and
some others replied that they would agree to this request. They said that there was no reason
nor obstacle for him not to come into our houses, and all of them agreed to this.

So after this meeting of the headmen in Sikuati, Honegger started to go and enter the
longhouses near Sikuati and the Gonsomon folk. There now follows an account of the dates
on which he visited these longhouses for the first time, as documented in Honegger's diary.
16.12.52 I visited Kilahon (Kampong Minyak is its present name)
18.12.52 I went to Kimihang and Bangau.
23.12.52 I went to Barambangun
25.12.52 Worship with some people from Kimihang and Masangkung at the Chinese Church
of Tamalang
1.1.53 I went to the longhouse in Lajong
11.2.53 I went to Loro dot opodok
19.2.53 I went up into the longhouse of Tiga Papan and Gumandang
25.2.53 I went up into the longhouse of Handal (Kandawazon)
26.2.53 I moved on to Parapat and Angkob and, on the 27th, to Bonduk
10.3.53 I went to Pilang (Ronggu) and on the 11.3. to Lodung and 12.3. to Kodungkung and
Mogong and on 13.3. to Pituru
All the longhouses he entered for the first time after the people had allowed him to do so, he
visited again and again in order to continue with the Story of Jesus and his invitation for
everyone to follow the Lord Jesus. More and more the people requested to be visited again,
and after a short time some people were first considering and later deciding to turn away from
the old Adat and towards “sumuvang sambayang” = to enter worship, meaning to follow and
receive the Good News and join the Christian church. The members of the longhouse, who
had as a whole decided before all the other longhouses to follow this new faith was the
Masangkung house, the village of headman Tuorong and his son Majimil. They
wholeheartedly asked to be taught about the Good News. Therefore Honegger started there to
teach them the Christian faith, so that they would understand the aim of being a Christian and
to be ready to receive Christian baptism.
On December 23rd in 1953, the first baptism took place in Masangkung. Some families had
asked to be baptized, first of all Tuorong and his wife Setia, his son Majimil, his wife
Sinundihi and their two children Nupia and Masiun.
A church building had by then already been erected on the top of the hill on Tuorong's land,
covered with Nipa palm leaves. The walls were also made from palm leaves. The posts had
been cut in the nearby jungle in the same ways as the Momogun used to build their houses.
On Christmas Day, 25th December, the church building at Lodung was consecrated. This
building was placed in between the villages of Lodung and Pilang. Together with the opening
of this building, a first baptism took place for a few people from the longhouses in Pilang,
Kusilad, Kodungkung, Lodung and Pituru who had by then already been instructed in the
Christian faith. They had decided that one church building would suffice for their five
Gonsomon villages. So on that Christmas Day there were three occasions to celebrate; first
Christmas, then the opening of the new church building and the baptism of some of the
people. This is why one can truly say that that day was a very special day in Ronggu in 1953.
From then on, the Christian faith continued to flourish increasingly among the Momogun
people in the Kudat District. So it came about that here one headman and his people decided
to “enter Christianity”, in another place it was one family only to do so, in the third place one
was thinking about making this decision. Wherever a headman spoke in this way, his
longhouse population was ready to follow suit and threw away all the symbols, tools and
effigies of the spirits, the heart stones, the spirit basket and whatever else reminded them of
the presence of the spirits in the longhouse. Sometimes the owners themselves took these
spirit tools and threw them away, others were afraid to touch them and asked the pastor to
take them away and burn them. The pastor then entered each family room, carrying the Bible
as a sign that from that moment on, the family was now under the guidance, care and
protection of God.
In 1954, a church was built in Lajong first because there were still people in the longhouse
who did not yet want to become Christians. A second reason for building a church was that
the people who had joined the Christian faith had started to plant coconut trees in the cleared
rice field to make a plantation and had moved out of the longhouse in order to be near their
garden, living there for a time in their rice hut before building a proper house. The parts of the
longhouse that had been deserted started to break down. There was no longer any chance of
coming together in the longhouse for Bible readings and worship. Once this church building
was completed, there was further trouble. The water buffaloes, which often were let loose
after the rice harvest, came to the cleared ground near the church and ruined the walls. So the
congregation decided to put up a barbed wire fence around the building.
As soon as Pastor Honegger had called at the longhouses between Lajong and Lodung, there
were some families, who had before tried to follow the Seventh Day Adventists, who wished
to convert to Protestant Christianity. They asked Honegger to call on their homes.
At that time, a dispute arose about the competition between SDA and Protestant Christianity.
At the same time as Honegger arrived in Sabah, an SDA evangelist from Goshen had visited
the countryside in Kudat and found the Merebau valley and the Tambuluran valley to be
suitable for irrigation. This led him to start evangelising there according to his SDA
background. As many Momogun were dissatisfied with their old Adat and had understood
that, as an Adventist, one was free from the adat, which forced people to make offerings to
the spirits of the earth, and was able to make a living from irrigated rice fields, some families
joined the SDA. The District Officer felt that if two different denominations were working in
the same region trying to find followers, it could only end in a dispute. He therefore ruled that
the SDA would not be allowed in the hinterland of Kudat, while the Basel Mission could not
go beyond the boundary at Matunggung. All villages under Bandau administration were under
the SDA influence, while all places under the Kudat administration would be part of the
sphere of influence of the Basel Mission. Only Angkob (Tambuluran) and Merebau could still
be visited by SDA people, and the SDA was able to construct its building for worship there.
When Honegger saw the many places where he was to prepare for baptism, he reported this to
the committee of the Basel Mission and requested an assistant. The Basel Mission sent Pastor
Haeusermann to assist Mr Honegger. Together with Haeusermann, Mr Honegger's wife and
their two younger children came along on the boat to Sabah. The two older children, who had
already started school, were left in Switzerland to continue their education there. At that time,
schools in Kudat were not yet very well organized and there were none at all in Sikuati. By
that time, there were already plans to build a station in Sikuati in order to be closer to the
longhouses. It was also clear to the missionaries that it was not a good idea to live too closely
together in one building, especially with children and with the bachelor Haeusermann.
Haeusermann arrived in Kudat on June 15th, 1954, together with Honegger's wife and
children. At this time Honegger was very busy, repeatedly visiting Masangkung, Merebau,
Kumbatang, Ronggu, Lajong, Bangau, Kimihang, Suangpai and Tiga Papan.
There was a further baptism service at Masangkung and in Ronggu. One group of Lajong folk
requested to be prepared for baptism and to be baptized. The station in Sikuati was built on a
piece of land bought from a Bajau, situated next to the land of the Chinese Basel Church in
Sikuati. In May 1955, Honegger and Haeusermann moved to the new station. An initial
course for teaching the alphabet was started in the Malay language, and Mr Haeusermann
himself started to learn Malay. A number of grown up teenaged boys and young family men
wanted to learn to read and write, intending to read the Malay Bible. Amongst them were
Angkap, Daang, Diyun, Totong, Angkangon, Majimil and Majukin and others. They had
already started to assist in leading congregations in worship and in bringing the gospel to
other places.
Not long after this, in October 1955, Werner Sigrist and his wife arrived and moved into the
second building at Sikuati. Haeusermann, however, went back to Kudat. It was decided that
he should be working towards the North of Kudat Tiga Papan, Gumandang Suangpai, Loro,
Kimihang and Bangau. The other places would remain under Honegger's supervision. Mr
Sigrist had still to learn Malay, and had lessons with the teacher of the Government Primary
School in Kudat.
A further plan of the Basel Mission was now to open up another station in Pitas across the
Kudat Bay, providing there would be yet another pastor. So Honegger requested a further
missionary for the work in Pitas. The committee in Basel called upon Traugott Forschner to
undertake this task. He left Europe before the end of 1955 and arrived in Kudat on February
10th 1956. As he had been informed about the language problems involved when starting off
with Malay, he decided from the very beginning to learn and use only Momogun. On the day
of his arrival, he started to learn Momogun with his assistant Majimil. Every day, Majimil
was prepared to explain and answer all the questions, queries and meanings of the Momogun
language.

Organizing the Christian congregations in the Kudat District

As in the times of the apostle Paul who started congregations in Thessalonians and Corinth,
soon the time would come to get a congregation organized. It is not enough to simply explain
the Good News to the people and then expect the congregation to stand up and build itself like
a house and get itself organized. The old Adat had followed the rule of the spirits and had
been managed and sometimes also mishandled by the headman and the priestess, but the
Good News was different. It was God who gave a new Adat, telling what was right and
wrong. According to the old Adat, some things were allowed, others taboo. Some had been
steps, which had to be taken by all means and others totally forbidden; often even just
mentioning them was already a sacrilege, let alone making use of them. As soon as one
Momogun became Christian he was under the influence of the new Adat and yet still bound to
the old Adat, even though he thought that he had left the influence of the old Adat and its
tradition.
This manifested itself in various ways and had to be discussed and resolved. For example, for
the Momogun, there was a custom that dictated that whenever someone died in ones' family,
the relatives had to follow the burial rites and the rites of clearing the grave after some time.
The dead would not be buried before all close relatives had assembled, brothers and sisters,
children, parents, uncles and aunts, nephews and nieces and in-laws. At the funeral and at the
grave clearing there were to be offerings for the spirits for the benefit of the deceased and
there was also a festive meal. Parts of the slaughtered animal were eaten together with lots of
rice wine, often until everyone was drunk, something which should have helped to forget the
sorrow about the death and submerge it in alcohol. It so happened that even baptized
Christians were called to fulfil their duty at the coffin and grave of their relatives, if their
mother, father were still living along the old Adat of the spirits.
Following the old Adat, it was impossible not to join in the funeral procedures and grave
clearings. But what should be one’s position as a Christian? Was one allowed to go along and
be part of the party of the spirits and also get drunk, just like in former times? Mr Honegger,
who was teetotal, not touching even a drop of alcohol, would have liked to forbid the use of
rice wine altogether and create a rule similar to the SDA law, saying that it was not allowed
for a Christian to drink any alcohol. Yet he knew that such a law was against the gospel of
God's grace. For a Christian is not surrounded by walls, forbidding this and that. Instead he is
free to say no to any form of pressure and taboo. At that time there were also often Christians
who did not ask the pastor first before joining such offerings and drinking rounds at funerals
and grave clearings. Only afterwards did the facts of their drunkenness, often even of a
headman or church elder, come to the attention of the pastor. Some said again and again: if
only you, Honegger, would forbid us these things and tell us that it is a taboo for Christians,
we would probably obey. But Mr Honegger was afraid to say so and remained strict on the
matter, as he knew very well that forbidding and commanding would not bring about the
desired results.
The missionaries agreed that it was necessary to find a way of organizing the congregations
and discussing these various problems in order to come up with a new Christian Adat.

A first meeting of church elders of the Momogun congregations

A first conference of church elders was held in the hut of the former owner of the Sikuati
station from the 28th to the 29th of December 1955. The aim of this gathering was to discuss
the difference between the old Adat of the forefathers and the Christian way of life. Pastor
Honegger explained how the worship of the spirits had so much stuck to the life of the people
that there had been no way to leave it. From birth on, at the betrothal and the wedding until
death, the power of the spirits ruled over and troubled the lives of the Momogun. But now, as
Honegger said, Christians are freed from the influence of the spirits, the old rule has ended
and Christians now follow the new way. From birth until the grave, a person lives under
God's might and it is God who orders Christian life and gives a new identity. Yet as far as the
problem of attending funerals of relatives is concerned, which are still heathen and involve
drinking rice wine, no decision was taken at this gathering.
As for the feast, which could replace the offerings after harvest (Pamapakan), Mr Honegger
told the meeting how Christians in Switzerland and in Kalimantan honour the end of the
harvest. After the harvest there would be a collection for the church to make it possible for the
church to help people in need. He encouraged the elders to consider and discuss an
arrangement for the Momogun which complies with their way of honouring the end of
harvest.
Another matter was brought up in this meeting: the age of a girl at her wedding. Honegger
had seen that often, a girl who was still a child had been married off even though the girl had
not at all understood what marriage meant. Here Honegger told them how, in his home
country, there was a rule stating that a woman had to be 20 years of age before she could at all
marry. As soon as Honegger had said this, the elders agreed to follow this rule, saying: Only
when a girl has reached the age of twenty can she be married off. (It was not said who would
be the one to fix the age of the girl. At that time, not a single person or child had a birth
certificate, and it was still at the liberty of the father to decide about the age of his daughter,
whether she was 2o already or not. Actually this decision was never practised.)

The second meeting of the church elders

In April 1956 there was another conference for the church elders. Some 43 people had come
from 25 villages. This time, the matters of the first conference were tabled again and its
decision repeated and confirmed. Then came the question as to how a congregation should be
led and organized: who will be a church elder, who will lead the worship and will be his task?
Who will be in charge of the key to the church building and look after the building, how much
remuneration should be given to evangelists coming from another village, and what should be
done to improve the gatherings of the church elders? After discussion it was decided to meet
every six months, enabling them to establish an order for Christian life and for the
congregation.

The third meeting of the church elders

In April 1957, the representative of the Basel Mission came to hold a visitation of the work of
the Basel Mission in Sabah. During his stay there was a further conference of the church
elders. The pastors were asked to give an account of what really would be the centre of the
church and its congregations. At this meeting, first steps were taken towards, firstly, listening
to the teaching of scriptures and worshipping together and, from there on, discussing a
possible church order. The themes of this teaching were:
1. Corinthian 3,11 Jesus is the foundation of the church, nothing else.
2. Corinthian 12 Jesus is like the head of a body and he is the head of the church.
The church is the body of Christ and we all together are members of the body of Christ,
sticking to this body, to Christ. There is no life apart from the body and the head, who rules
over us.
Now Pastor Witschi, the representative of the Basel Mission, told the gathering how the
spread of the gospel amongst the various people had happened and underlined the message
heard before that there was no other foundation besides Jesus Christ, as he was the saviour of
all mankind.
At the meeting, the discussion led to the decision on how to use the Sunday offerings of the
congregations: one third of the collection should go to the centre of the church for payments
to the evangelists travelling to other congregations. The other portion was to be used for the
church building fund of every congregation. One elder should act as treasurer and pass on the
collections to the respective pastor.
During Mr Witschis visit in Kudat, the pastors discussed the opening of Bible courses for
evangelists with the aim of improving their knowledge. The place of the Bible School was to
be at Sikuati. Mr Witschi agreed to find funds for such courses. It was directly after this
meeting that Mr Honegger and his family left for Switzerland.

In the following two years, 1957-58, three further conferences were held to learn, discuss and
decide on an order which describes the aim of the church and congregation and its members.
This is the outcome of these meetings:
The order of the Christian congregation.
From the teaching of the apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, the following order
has been deduced. There are ten pillars of a congregation:
1. The church being the community of the Lord Jesus, who lives in the midst of mankind but
looks forward to the kingdom of God.
2. The Bible teaches the church that there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, the saviour who has
ruled over the church until today.
3. The congregation lives by its worship.
4. Baptism is the sign of being joined to the Christian community.
5. The Lord's supper is the sign, which strengthens Christians’ unity during their lives.
6. A Christian does not live for him/herself. He/she has partners of three kinds, his wife/her
husband, his or her family and his or her neighbours.
7. In a congregation there are pastors, evangelists and church elders who represent the Lord
Jesus in his ordering and leading of the congregation.
8. A Christian congregation is committed to care for and watch over each member to the
benefit of the member and the identity of the congregation.
9. The congregation lives in the midst of mankind towards the well being of the country and
its rule.
10. The congregation and each Christian give witness to Christ's work before people who are
far away.
Having repeatedly listened to and discussed the teaching of Paul, and after sufficient
explanation and seconded declarations of these discourses, the church elders and the
evangelists gathered together in January 1958 decided that this order of the congregation was
the outcome of the discussion and understanding of the Bible, summarized in the Order of
the Christian congregation. Every church elder was given a copy of this order.

A first Bible course

It was only around October 1957 that all the necessary preparation for a first Bible course or
Bible school was finally completed. A building was put up on the mission station at Sikuati
with four family rooms, each measuring eight by twelve feet. There was a kitchen, a washing
place and a classroom. There was provision for four families, as it was clear that the students
would not be able to make their own living if they were to leave out one year of rice planting.
Going back to their homes there would not be any rice ready for them.
The students of this course were: Majimil Tuorong, Diyun Madalag, Angkangon and Osuman
from Rampai. As Mr Haeusermann and Sigrist were staying in Kudat at that time, Mr
Forschner gave lessons from Monday to Wednesday and on Fridays and Saturdays. On
Thursdays, Mr Haeusermann gave Malay lessons in the morning and Mr Sigrist showed how
carpentry tools were to be used in making stools, and gave instructions for planting in the
afternoon..
To make it easy to worship, a small booklet with hymns and prayers for every day and for
special occasions had been prepared with the title: Service order book.
Alongside the teaching of parts of the Bible, translations of the respective sections were made
and were put together as The Story of Lord Jesus and The Story of the Old Testament to
a book with fifty stories of the life of Jesus, and another fifty stories from the Old Testament .
Having completed this, a proper translation was put together during the Bible lessons on the
First letter of Paul to the Corinthians. (This was in accordance with the readings at the
conferences of the church elders leading to the compilation of the Order of the Christian
congregation. Having read and understood Paul's writings to the Corinthians, the students
took part in talks with the church elders and gave accounts of their own understanding.)
When this course originally began, it was thought to be enough to let the course run for eight
months. Then the evangelists could go back to their workplaces and start to plant rice again
for the new planting season starting in July 1958. Shortly after the start of the course, it
became clear to the helpers and the pastors that the course would only be of any value and be
effective if another year was added. So the course continued up until June 1959. Having
finished these fifty stories on the Old Testament, there was still time to read and translate the
prophet Amos. This translation was made into a booklet Nabi Amos >The Prophet Amos, a
first translation product from the Old Testament.
Other lessons included the Saturday morning joint preparation of the sermon to be preached
the following Sunday in their home villages or other congregations. Each helper went home
over the weekend to keep up the contact with his village. After the joint preparation of the
sermon, the helpers tried in turns to give an example of what they would preach the next day.
In this way, the evangelists were taught while at the same time learning from their experience
in preaching every Sunday, and discussing their successes and failures the following Monday.
There were also lessons in simple arithmetic in order to learn how to enter the collection sum
in the Collection book, to learn the four ways of counting as well as how to plan for the
provision of the family and do bookkeeping for expenses.
When they went back to their villages after the course finished, each one was given a number
of bags of rice so as to be able to do their rice planting and have provision until the next
harvest.

The first permanent church building

The inhabitants of the Popot longhouse decided in 1956 to become Christians. For quite a
long time, this growing congregation met in the longhouse for worship and Bible classes.
Building a church had been considered for quite a while, but they said that such a building
would have to be a permanent building just like their longhouse, which had been built on very
hard timber posts and had already been in use for many years. So they decided that the
persons able to saw planks and joists should prepare sufficient wood, while others would
prepare raw posts found in the former rice fields and left over from primary jungle. Others
started to clear a piece of land on higher ground between their irrigated rice fields where the
building was to be erected. It was already June 1959 by the time all materials were ready and
the people were free to build the church. Ten men were needed to transport the very heavy
posts (14 feet long and 15 inches in diameter) on their shoulders. The joist on top of the posts,
with a length of over 40 feet, had to be carried by more than 30 men over a distance of more
than two kilometres from the jungle on a very uneven path. Each a single shoulder that had
carried these pieces of wood was bruised from transporting them in this way over such a
distance, up and down hills and across brooks. Yet all were happy to have completed this job.
In just thee weeks the building was erected, the walls made with the sawn planks, the roof of
corrugated iron sheets and shutters, also made of planks with wooden hinges, which could be
opened up all along the walls to allow enough air into the building. There was also a small
bell tower on top of the roof. Some men with artisan skills made an altar, a baptism font and a
pulpit in the forms of their own tradition. So it was that on the 17th of July 1959, this church
building could be dedicated for its use. A week later the first baptism in the congregation was
able to take place, as the congregation had been assembling every evening for baptism lessons
throughout the period of building .

The sixth conference of church elders

At the end of the first Bible course, a meeting of the church elders was held at Sikuati on 29th
to 30th June 1959. The theme of this meeting was the office and duty of the church elders and
their responsibility for the congregation. Based on the Bible texts of Matthew 20,26-28,
Matthew 18,15-17 and 1st Timothy 3,1-7 the church elders’ discussions about about caring
for, watching over and leading the congregation were explained and discussed.
In 1957 arrangements had already been made for timetables to be drawn up for each month,
showing the places where the pastors and evangelists would be on duty and what the Bible
reading would be in each case. A short commentary on the respective text was also included.
Each month, all the helpers and evangelists gathered together in order to prepare themselves
for their sermons in the various congregations. The idea of having the same Bible reading in
every congregation aimed at promoting a general understanding of what Christian life and
faith means.

The second course for evangelists

Directly after the harvest in April 1960, the Bible school was opened again at Sikuati. In the
first week further living quarters were built in a joint action to make space for a greater
number of evangelists. Altogether, 14 of them attended this second course, most of them
together with their family and a few who were still unmarried. The lessons comprised the
repetition of the Story of Jesus and the Story of the Old Testament, which had been
hectographed for their use. Along with the exposition of the Gospel of Marc, a translation into
Momogun was made, followed by the Story of the Acts, Paul’s letter to the Galatian, his First
letter to Thessalonians, First Timothy and First Peter. Their translations were also bound
together to make another booklet. Pastor Haeusermann gave lessons on the prophets of Isaia
and Jeremia and on the Malay language. Mrs Forschner started to teach English to some of
the helpers. Arithmetic and the use of money was also added as a subject.

Further permanent church buildings were built.

As the church hut in Lajong had been badly damaged, the Atap-walls and roof torn, the
church elders decided to replace this building. But the replacement was to be of a more
permanent style, as seen in Popot, made of planks and joists and with an asbestos roof. The
construction took some months. The new church was ready to be opened on 25th May 1960.
During the Easter service in Kumbatang 1960, a storm shook the church hut and people were
afraid that the building might collapse onto the heads of the assembled congregation. With the
service still going on, some men left the church and cut down some trees in the vicinity to
stabilize the building. Directly after the service, the men gathered to consider what had to be
done. How could the hut be replaced? It was obvious that the posts of the hut were already
rotten and it did not make any sense just to use some posts to prop up the building. There was
no other option but to construct a new building. A long discussion followed, leading to a clear
decision. There would be no wood in the neighbourhood of Kumbatang suitable for making
planks and joists. There was also no one in Kumbatang skilled in plank sawing. But the
congregation had put aside quite a lot of money and would be able to buy the necessary
building materials. The question was: how could the materials be transported to the church
site using the only existing footpath. No lorry could negotiate this path. There was already the
government road leading to Parapat and Angkob. Someone proposed to build a dirt track from
the main road at Parapat instead of going to and fro fetching the material from the farthest
point accessible to the lorry that was transporting the planks and other timber for the church.
This proposal found the acceptance of every man present. On the spot it was decided to start
with the building of a road along which a lorry could transport all of the necessary materials
right up to the church ground. It was agreed that on the very next day, all the men would go to
Parapat, start clearing the undergrowth and begin to level the road with their hoes. It was
predicted that the road could be completed in three months. And so it happened. Late in July
1960, the new church was opened with a roof called London roof. These corrugated asbestos
sheets were of a red colour. During the night before the dedication service, the old church hut
had collapsed in another strong wind.

The seventh conference of the church elders

At the end of the second Bible course for evangelists in July 1961, another conference was
held for the church elders. This meeting was concerned with finally settling the way in which
Christian marriage and wedding should be understood and arranged. At that time the
government had issued marriage licences to Pastor Haeusermann and Forschner to certify a
marriage agreement to be organised together with a Christian wedding service. This
combined act in a church service would give the marriage legal certification and
acknowledgement within the congregation. After a discussion, the elders agreed to this new
order, stating that as from then on, this form of marriage, with the name Christian Marriage
Ordinance of the Government, and wedding was to be used in the congregation.

In 1961, the committee of the Basel Mission gave an order to apply for land for a farm school
at Bavang Gazo. The churches in the West were of the opinion that the churches in this region
should receive support in matters of development. Funds were collected for this purpose. The
committee followed Pastor Sigrist’s suggestion to open a farm school at Bavang Gazo.
During his first term in Sabah, Pastor Sigrist had already tried to do some planting in various
places, e.g. ploughing in Sikuati in order to plant peanuts. Due to the very sandy soil around
the Sikuati station, nothing came of this planting experiment. (This very poor soil was
probably the real reason that the former owner of the land had sold it to the Basel Mission in
1954). He then attempted some irrigated rice planting together with the people of Rondomon.
The difficulty there was how to get to Rondomon at all, as there was still no road. Going by
boat from the fisherman at the Tungkang (Mile 16), the sea was sometimes so rough that it
was impossible to go around Batu Mandi. One of the Chinese had given the Basel Mission a
piece of land of some 48 acres at Andab, near the Sikuati station, low land which had thus far
not been used for planting rice. The whole piece of land was covered with lalang grass and
had been burned off by fire every year. Sigrist led the four helpers from the first Bible course
in starting up a rice field by ploughing the field. The problem there was that as soon as there
was enough water for planting, it was instantly so deep that the rice seedlings were not yet
long enough to be planted in this deep water. In the end, however, some rice was harvested.
The rice was stored in the hut, which had been built at the beginning of this trial. The ploughs,
harrows and other tools had been stored in this hut. One night the grassy low land went up in
flames again. The rice, the hut and all the tools were destroyed. These experiences gave Mr
Sigrist the idea of setting up a farm school on some mission land in order to teach people a
way of planting different to the method the Momogun had used. This plan had been put
before the committee in Basel and received its support and funding.
However, the conference of the pastors in Sabah, when confronted with the plan for a farm
school and the request by the committee from Basel to apply for land, told Basel that this plan
would not be compatible with the reality of the Momogun's situation. They said that the
Momogun often work on the Chinese plantations and assist with the rice planting there. From
this experience, they know already how to plant coconut farms and rubber plantations as well
as how to plant rice in irrigated fields. Their problem was not having the means and funds to
buy coconut seedlings or tools like ploughs and harrows or water buffaloes for the preparation
of rice fields. If only a teacher would go to the various villages and stay there with the people,
teaching and assisting them in starting plantations and distributing funds for seedlings and
tools, then the task of the mission would be sufficiently fulfilled. In this way, any field
planted and all returns from the planting efforts would be the property of the person who had
done the work. If this could be achieved in a few villages, these villages would then become
examples for others, encouraging them to follow suit.
Bringing teenage boys into a farm school, who had no formal primary education, would be
pointless. After all, according to the Momogun customs of the time, growing up was quite
different. As soon as young boys started to become unruly, constantly wandering off and
generally getting out of control, the parents would arrange for the son to be married off. This
young man would then be the servant of the in-laws for quite a number of years. It was not
the father who was teaching the son how to live and how to work towards supporting one's
own family. It was the father-in-law who forced the young man to work and support the
family. For this reason anything the young teenager learned at a farm school could not be put
to into practice, as it was the father-in-law who was giving the instructions on what the young
man had to do. In this society, the idea that the young man from the farm school could teach
the in-laws how things were to be done could not yet work.
Yet the committee in Basel made a decision and requested that the pastors in Sabah apply for
land at Bavang Gazo. Before Pastor Sigrist returned to Sabah, he had asked for some land to
be cleared for a first season of hill rice planting, so that when he arrived in Sabah in August
1961 he could start with hill rice planting and his farm school project. Shortly after Sigrist,
the agriculturalist Mr John Staehelin arrived, joining Sigrist in his work. When the cleared
piece of land was burnt, the very old and famous Red Fig Tree of Bavang Gazo also went up
in flames. All these wonderful orchids, ferns - some with fronds of six and more feet in length
- and other marvellous flora vanished and the Nunuk Aragang ended up falling down, turning
to ashes.
As the building in Sikuati, built for the second Bible course, was no longer in use - at that
time there was no plan to continue with this type of schooling - this building was moved to
Bavang Gazo for possible temporary use. In the end, however, Pastor Sigrist and Staehlin
decided to travel to and from Kudat while getting the farm school project ready. It wasn’t
until October 1962 that the farm school was officially opened for young teenaged boys who
wanted to learn reading and writing.

The Evangelist course 1962

From the experiences with the Bible course in1961, it was decided not to have another yearly
course. Instead of this, several lay helpers were to come together directly after harvest (April)
for the time between harvest and the beginning of the next rice planting season (July). With
the former Bible course, the church effectively had to provide for the families of the
evangelists for two years. By using the time between the harvest and next planting season,
everyone attending the course could provide for themselves. As many more congregations
had come into being in the meantime, many more trained helpers were needed to serve these
congregations. So 22 lay helpers came together for nine weeks and read Paul's Letter to the
Romans and received instruction in the Christian faith, Dogmatics and ethics.

Discussions towards a translation of the Bible into Momogun

There was a translating conference from the 2nd to the 15th of July 1962 at Lawas, the
headquarters of The Borneo Evangelical Mission (BEM) in Sarawak. The aim was to bring
together the various missionaries of Sabah and Sarawak with the aim of finding a common
Momogun translation of the Bible. A representative of the British and Foreign Bible Society
in London had called and organized this meeting. For two weeks, people from Ranai and
Tuaran, from the Kinabatangan and Kudat tried together but were not able to find a solution.
The only finding agreed on by everyone was that it was most important for the Christian
Momogun to have a translation of the Bible that could be used by them all. It was felt that it
could not be too difficult to bring together the various dialects, if only this was done with
enough enthusiasm. But if each mission kept to its own way of work, there would be no way
of finding common ground. There was also a demand from one side that the translation be
completed in the shortest possible time. It was obvious that the person asking for a quick
translation had not done any proper research into the Momogun language. Their method of
translating was to give their assistant, a young man, the Malay term and to ask for the
respective Momogun word. His answer was simply written down and that was the translation.
Furthermore, the representative of the Bible Society in London, too, was still suggesting that
a translation should render one word after the other from one language into the other (kata
demi kata).
The only outcome of this conference was that some Rungus and some people from Inland,
from Bundu Tuhan, Ranau and Sunsuran should meet in September 1962 in Ranau. At the
Lawas meeting, Diyun Madalag and Forschner had represented the Kudat region.
Angkap Mangalis, Diyun Madalag and Forschner attended the meeting at Ranau for a further
exchange on the Momogun language. During this meeting it was agreed that the way the
Rungus dialect had been written down was the right way to go about things. The Ranau
dialect would no longer use two different “e” and “é”-vowels, but “e” and “o” respectively, as
was the case in Rungus. Of course, there was considerable opposition to this change, as
people had for a long time got accustomed to these two different “e”-vowels. It also became
clear during the course of the long discussions and explanations that the difference was not
only a linguistic problem. There was also a great difference in theological outlook between
Ranau and Kudat. Nevertheless it was decided to meet again at Lawas in March 1963 for a
further conference.
At this meeting at Lawas in March 1963, Diyun, Majimil, Haeusermann and Forschner took
part with the aim of sorting out the theological terms in the Bible and the Christian faith. The
search for these terms went on for a further two weeks, not only all day long but often
carrying on until midnight. Again, no common solution was found. Instead it was decided that
each mission should find its own way of translating the Bible.

The opening of a hostel for school boys

After there had been an ABC course in May and June 1956 at Sikuati for whoever wished to
attend and learn to read and write, two village elders in Tiga Papan decided, it would be a
good thing for their boys to receive proper schooling and not just short courses. With this in
mind they came to Mr Haeusermann and asked him to make a school for their boys at Kudat.
Headman Madalag and his friend Manahil wished that the Basel Mission would open such a
school. Mr Haeusermann, being acquainted with the head teacher of the Government Primary
School in Kudat, at that time the only school for just 40 native children (Bumiputra),
discussed and agreed with this teacher that Manjil Madalag and Ibing Manahil could attend
this school. Before the year had ended, both had advanced to Primary class four.
At that time, the parents prepared rice ready for these boys and the boys were accommodated
in the old kitchen building of the Mile Two station. To facilitate their schooling, Mr
Haeusermann and Mrs Forschner gave the boys additional lessons in Malay and English
during the afternoon. On the1st of January 1957, during the flag raising and the schools
parade at the town playground in Kudat, Mrs and Mr Forschner encountered the District
Officer (DIO). Forschner mentioned to the DIO that the Basel Mission intended to open a
school at Sikuati with the vernacular language as a medium as soon as the necessary
preparations regarding buildings and books had been made, providing that the government
agreed to this idea. The school opening could take place by August 1957. The DIO found this
to be an excellent idea. He had already seen some Momogun boys among the boys from the
GPS. He suggested that this plan be discussed with the Native Chief and said: “I shall invite
the Native Chief to come with me to your house at Mile Two”.
However, when the DIO and the Dato Mustapha sat down in Mile Two and again heard the
proposal of the Basel Mission, that as soon as the school books in Momogun were ready a
school could be opened in August 1957, Mustapha replied: “This is too late. If I manage this,
the school will be opened by April. Your proposal takes too much time. It is clear that the
medium of the school will be the Malay language”. The District Officer supported Mustapha
and both emphasised: “We will go ahead with the school, not the Basel Mission”. (In fact it
was in April that this school was eventually opened, but in the year 1959, not 1957. For the
Basel Mission, however, there was no way of opening a school using the Momogun
language.)
When the two boys Manjil and Ibing came back from their village Tiga Papan in January for
the new year 1957 another six boys came along with them. They all wanted to go to school
and each of them carried on his head a small bag of rice as provisions. They said that their
parents would come by to discuss arrangements for the boys’ lodging. The parents proposed
to build a small longhouse for the boys at Mile Two. The parents came and planned together
with Mr Haeusermann and Mr Forschner, how to construct a dwelling for their children and
agreed to supply them with food, one gantang of rice for each week. Haeusermann agreed to
provide additional food and salt for the children, while the boys would help in collecting
coconuts from the plantation. This was the start of the Asrama PCS.
Each year more boys came and made it necessary to extend the small longhouse. It so
happened that the posts and beams of this longhouse had not been of the best quality, having
been taken from secondary jungle. They were soon rotten and the building was on the point of
collapsing. In 1960, it was necessary to consider how forty boys could be accommodated in a
proper hostel.
At that time, a report sent to Europe told people there about the housing and food problems
with the hostel. It so happened that there were boys who received the promised provision of
rice week after week, while others could not bring any rice at all as their parents did not even
have enough to feed the family at home. After a while two letters arrived from Europe. One
from the Basel Mission explaining that an organisation, Bread for the World had agreed to
send 40,000 Straits Dollars for a hostel building. The second letter came from an organisation
called Kindernothilfe (KNH) and contained application forms. With these forms it was
possible to apply for funds for each boy towards food, clothing and school requirements
amounting to 30 German Marks per month. The leader of the hostel applied to Duisburg for
support for all the boys, and the organisation in Germany agreed. The idea of KNH was that
there were foster parents in Germany for each boy who would pay this amount of money for
their respective foster child on a monthly basis. So from this time on there was support for the
children in the hostel and the expenses of the hostel were calculated in the budget of the Basel
Mission. At the beginning, all provision for the boys and the hostel were provided by their
parents, by Mr Haeusermann and Mrs Forschner's salary when she was an English teacher at
Lok Yuk School in Kudat for a year.
In 1964 the boys themselves built further rooms between the posts under the hostel Duisburg,
and made it possible for the secondary boys to have separate quarters instead of staying and
sleeping together with all the younger boys. The number of boys in the hostel had by then
increased to 56. The first boys to enter the hostel had by then already left the school and some
of them found employment as auxiliary teachers in the Village School Lodung and the Farm
School Bavang Gazo.

The Gospel spreads towards the south and to the other peninsula
When Mr Haeusermann left for good to Switzerland, there were many requests from
longhouses near Matunggung and near the sea as well as from the other peninsula, especially
Pantai and Liu-Dandun, for the evangelists to come and bring them the gospel. At the end of a
meeting of lay helpers and evangelists early in June 1964, some of them were ready to answer
these requests by visiting the respective places. Six teams of two went for a week, while the
team visiting the other peninsula went for two weeks. Their aim was to find out where it
would be right und good to start with the proclamation of the Good News.
One group visited Ponudaan and Ritah, another Molongkolong up to Kirangavan and Botutai,
another Nangko and down as far as Togumamal, another to the end of the other peninsula
Dalas, Kandang, Molubang and Mongkubou, another team went to Suangeloi, Kabatasan and
Kusilad while the last team went to Pantai. When they came back, their reports were mixed.
From Pantai came not just the news that the people wished to become Christians - they had
already taken this step forward and declared themselves to be entering Christianity and had,
as a group of various families, already held a first worship service. They also had urged one
of the evangelists to stay with them as their leader. From Molongkolong came the message
that they, too ,were ready to enter Christianity, together with their relatives at Botutai. The
others had asked to be visited again by the evangelists, as they still wished to get to know and
understand what Christian religion would mean.
In September 1964 a station was built at Pantai together with the people from Pantai, who
provided the timber posts and assisted with the building. The new Pastor Dilger, who was still
learning the Momogun language, moved to Pantai and began to oversee the growing Christian
congregations there. Once he was living there, many longhouses in the vicinity of Pantai
asked to be visited and decided to become Christians. In June 1965 a clinic was opened at
Pantai and a course was held for additional lay helpers. As so many longhouses had joined the
church, there was a need for more lay helpers. 29 lay helpers joined the Bible school at
Pantai, that continued to exist until March 1967. By that time the work near Pantai involved
the villages of Golom, Taradas, Gunsali, Tangkarason, Penampadan, Medan, Boribi,
Lingkuton, Sulakolung, Narandang, Sinukab, Monduring and others.
Peter Osingko Taganau remembers in his writings how The Gospel crossed the sea to the
peninsula Marudu 1964. He wrote:
In 1962 the older Momogun schoolboys staying at the hostel in Mile Two were asked by the
government to go to their own people. The government sent two of them to Konibungan in
order to get people to apply for identity cards. This was during the school holidays in
November and December 1962. It was Mangamban John Kastum and Albert Manangku that
went to Konibungan. For two weeks they made the people sign their identity cards and met
with the people there and realized that in the area of Konibungan some 70% of the population
were Rungus. When they went there for a second time, they came to Pinapak and saw that
these people were Rungus. As they were already Christians themselves, they told them about
Christianity and how they had left the influence and the power of the spirits.
Now they were still going to school. They came back after having finished the work and
stayed overnight at Mile Two. During the meal they reported about their work. The Mission
was pleased about the news, and that despite being schoolboys they had been employed part
time by the government. They reported about their encountering Rungus near Konibungan,
who had asked whether or not pastors would also visit them on the peninsula. At Pinapak, so
John Kastum said, he had even held the finger of Motumpul (the very tall person, more than
nine feet tall who had been called by the government to have his right hand finger examined
at the hospital). That finger was sooooo big, like a lunggazan, said John Kastum.
Then at the meeting of the lay helpers in 1963 it was Musaat Manangku (Idris) and John
Kastum who explained to the helpers and Mr Haeusermann what they had seen and heard at
Konibungan and at Pinapak and Pitas. They reported that there were agricultural folk at
Sulakolung, Sinukab and Piyas. Haeusermann reported this to the other colleagues.
In February 1964 three lay helpers went over to the other peninsula: Mohigan Ringkuzan,
Osingko Taganau and Motuka. They travelled in the motorboat belonging to Asun, the father
of the Honourable member of the State Assembly Wong Phen Chong, and came to Pitas
Kulumpang. They went to Kabatasan by rowing on the river and stepped up into the
longhouse of Matarak from Kabatasan at midday. Having talked to the headman Matarak
and another older man Amai Tongindang, they went to Rukom. At that place people came
together in the evening and they were able to tell them about the reason for their visit. They
wanted to talk to them about religion. That evening many listened, even the headman
Monugkong and Amai Olilud, but the headman Mongundol was not present. He had gone to
Suangkiping with twenty families in order to move there on the advice of Mr Durai from the
Agricultural Office. He wanted them to arrange irrigated fields and plant rice there. The
following day they went to Kampong Lajong Pitas and stayed there for two nights, meeting
with Amai Mogimbang and his people.
The next day they went to Sulakolung and spent two nights in the house of Bungkak as it
rained very hard at the end of that rainy season. In Sulakolung they met Masanang, the
person who often travelled to Kudat selling poison and making people afraid. He was known
to own witchcraft and be able to curse people. He tried to frighten the helpers, yet after
having seen Motuka, he himself was afraid. He said: I am not as powerful as his mother
Muoronzog. She really is perfect. At that time a special offering was in action called
Bungkaka, with everyone engaged.
On the third day at Konibungan they went to Sinukab, to the village of Rumambal, who was a
very strong supporter of the UPKO (United Party of the Kadazan Organisation). There, too,
the helpers explained their reason for coming. A similar feast was also in progress there. So
the helpers decided to go back to their families of Motuka and Mohigan, both having wife and
children at home.
In the morning, Motuka and Mohigan left and walked to Pitas while Osingko went on to
Piyas, quite content to have these feasts behind him. He entered Rumunji's house, the
headman of Piyas. In the evening, people came together and Osingko told them the reason for
his visit. In Piyas Osingko met with some very old people, Sugimbung and others. The next
day he went to Pantai accompanied by Mosuhal and Lumukad, passing over the valley of
Gasop. That evening in Pantai, the headman Basang calledsome people together in his
house, some eleven families. As soon as Osingko had finished his story, these eleven families
wished to become Christians. But Osingko refused to accept them, saying: “I have not come
to make you Christians. I only wanted to tell you that we on the Kudat peninsula are no
longer slaves of the spirits. But if you want to become Christians and I return home, there will
be no one who can assist you in worshipping God. Then you will be in trouble”.
Basang asked Osingko to come with him to Golom to meet Mojihung and to go to Lingkuton
to meet Motinggis and his son Rumandut. At Motinggis, too, there was a feast for the spirits.
Osingko spent nearly a week at Pantai before returning to Kudat by a boat powered by a
Seagull outboard engine. Together with Osingko, the headmen Basang, Rumunji, Rumambal,
Majupi and the Amai Bahut and Tungking travelled from Boribi. They wished to meet Pastor
Haeusermann.
On the first evening of March 1964, these headmen from the villages of Konibungan met
Pastor Haeusermann and explained to him their wish to become Christians. They signed a
statement declaring that they wished to become Christians and follow the Lord Jesus.
Haeusermann and Osingko agreed that Osingko would visit them again the following June
together with other lay helpers. However, Osingko had an accident in May and was very
badly wounded.
At the end of June Osuman, Awasang and Mojukin were sent to Konibungan. They had come
to Mile Two wondering how to get to Konibungan. None of the three had any knowledge of
that place. That day Osingko was allowed to leave the hospital after his accident. He went to
the shops with Pastor Forschner and met Majatig and his brother Lumogi. Osingko had met
them while he had been in Pantai for a few days and had also come to Lingkuton. It was
strange that Osingko had recognized Majatig, while Majatig could not remember having met
Osingko. Osingko brought Majatig and Lumogi along to see Pastor Forschner and it was
agreed that Osuman and his friends could travel with them going back to Konibungan.
So it was that Awasang, Osuman and Mojukin came to Pantai and assisted these eleven
families in becoming Christians. After this, Awasang and Mojukin went back to Kudat while
Osuman remained in Pantai. The people would not allow him to leave them, telling him that
they wanted him to be their evangelist.
When Awasang and Mojukin went back, they travelled with Mojuring and headman Basang.
Basang wanted to tell Pastor Forschner that the people in Pantai had accepted Christianity.
He also went to see the District Office to get an official acknowledgement for the pastors to
visit the other peninsula.
On the Freedom Day of Sabah1964 (31.8.), Osingko was asked to go to Pantai and find out
whether it was possible to travel to Pantai by boat. For three days Osingko followed the
villagers, clearing the tidal river from undergrowth and wood. It was necessary to dive, find
the beams and cut them under water, then have them pulled out by boat in order to make a
clear passage.
Once back in Kudat, he reported that the tidal river could now be used, so he was asked to
find someone who would sell them a motorboat. He found that Haji Mariangin was prepared
to sell his boat, so Pastor Forschner, Dilger and Osingko had a trial trip to Pantai. After
eleven hours they arrived at the landing place of Pantai. It was midnight. On this visit, the
headman Basang and the Pastors agreed to build a station in Pantai at the place where a
piece of primary jungle had been left over from clearing due to the fact that the spirits had
their special home there. Back in Kudat, the motorboat was bought for the Pantai station and
this first boat was called Bayan. There was, however, one problem: Only Basang and
Mojuring were available to return with the boat to Pantai, but neither of them had any idea
how to start the engine. In the end someone else started the engine for them and they were
able to return home. In Pantai, Basang's son Masarap was to be the boat’s captain.
By September 1964 Pastor Dilger had already started building the station. The timber was
taken from the jungle and the planks from the sawmill in Barambangun. Before the end of
1964, Dilger moved with his family to Pantai and many villages near Pantai decided to
become Christians, so in May 1965, a Bible School for lay helpers was opened with 27
people. Osuman and Osingko assisted Pastor Dilger in teaching the course, and even new lay
helpers from the Kudat peninsula attended this course in Pantai.
During the time of the course, the lay helpers joined the other people who were getting a road
cleared down to the landing place in Pantai, to Gunsali, Taradas and to Konibungan. They
cleared the way, made bridges, cut old, hollow stems to use them as pipes. Altogether some
22 miles of field roads were built from Konibungan to Datong. The people of the various
villages worked along the road and were given provisions due to not having had a harvest the
last planting season. At the end of the Bible course, even a bridge was built over the tidal
river at Konibungan. The government supplied the timber needed for the posts, but the
floorboards and the balustrade were made timber sawn at the place that had a sawmill. This
bridge was officially opened in July 1966 in the presence of the District Officer from Kudat.
Other bridges along this road had to be made at Gunsali and Taradas using local materials.
Pastor Dilger also undertook to provide coconut seedlings and to encourage the people to
plant them together with other fruit plants. Forschner sent a large number of coconut
seedlings to Pantai with each boat. The helpers often assisted people in their villages with
harvesting and other work and were of genuine help to the people there.
A clinic was also established at Pantai. Before the actual building was ready, an annex of
Dilger's house was used as clinic. As soon as nurse Dora Loosli arrived, she started work at
that provisional place, caring for the sick and needy while simultaneously learning the
Momogun language.
This is Osingko's report of how the Gospel travelled over the sea to the peninsula Marudu.

On the Kudat peninsula, the longhouses Nangko, Penampang, Tinukadan, Togumamal,

Pinavantai, Bonduk and others were opened. In Pitas, a congregation was started at Dandon
Liu, Suangeloi and a few villages near Baving. The mission therefore opened a station at
Nangko with Majimil in charge, and at Baving with Diyun in charge. Ohigan promised to
regularly visit the villages in Pitas with his boat until the people there were ready for
conversion. There were also a few more villages near Tinangol whose people wished to hear
the gospel. It was the task of the Pastor at Bavang Gazo to care for them.

The Native Voluntary School at Lajong, Lodung and Tinangol

As long as the British ruled over Sabah, the Basel Mission was not allowed to open and run
any schools. When the British left, there was a rumour that the school policy of the new
government might have changed. The Basel Mission therefore applied for permission to open
schools and was granted permission to open three schools at Lajong, Lodung and Tinangol.
The villages had to apply for land in the name of the Basel Mission, while the Basel Mission
had to obtain funds for the school buildings and a teacher from Europe to supervise of these
schools. By autumn 1964, these schools were already open with Mr Stettler as supervisor.
Each school had four classrooms and quarters for the teachers.
The schools were not named after the Basel Mission but were called Native Voluntary
Schools, so that the teachers would be employed and paid by the state administration, while
the Basel Mission paid the supervisor. This arrangement was made to avoid the local church
having to bear all the running costs of the schools at a later date. The church in Cameroon, in
West Africa, derived from the Basel Mission had had great difficulties in paying for the
upkeep of the schools and providing for the teachers of these schools. This experience led to
choosing another way of opening schools in Sabah. There was clearly a need to provide
schooling for the Momogun people, and this might even encourage the government to at last
take an interest in the education of the Momogun children. So it came about that the
government did indeed take up this challenge by opening up schools for the socalled
Bumiputras (natives) all over the Kudat District, in this case for the Momogun youth. As
many young Momogun had already attended school while staying at the PCS hostels, some of
them were employed as teachers by the government to work in these schools.

Towards a health service for the people

When the missionaries started to visit the longhouses they noticed that there was a great deal
illness, disease and serious wounds. There was a lack of any health provision for the people,
especially for the little ones. It therefore went without saying that whenever a missionary
entered the longhouse, he opened his medical bag and distributed medicines and dressed
wounds. When Mrs Honegger, a nurse, arrived, the Basel Mission opened a clinic at the
Sikuati station. Each day, many people from the neighbourhood of Sikuati came to request
medicine or have injections. The Medical Officer of the Kudat Cottage Hospital agreed to the
supply of medicines and the Basel Mission, too, sent various medicines from Switzerland and
Germany. When Mrs Honegger left, another nurse took over from her: her name was Trudi
Sigrist. At that time, the Red Cross of the Kudat Branch and the Basel Mission agreed to
construct a clinic hut near the road, away from the mission station. It was Mr Lo Cham En,
the chairman of the Red Cross in Kudat who oversaw the building of a clinic which was big
enough not only for the daily out-patient treatment of the people but also with enough room to
stay overnight for several days while being treated in the clinic. The Basel Mission was still
responsible for providing for the nurse. Later on, even people living as far away as Tinangol
and Pinavantai, having to walk for a whole day, came on foot to Sikuati asking to be treated.
At that time the road only reached as far as Lajong, by 1960 as far as Angkob.
As soon as the Basel Mission had opened the Tinangol School, they also built a clinic at
Tinangol (1964), in Pantai in 1965 and in Dandun Liu in 1967. While a Chinese contractor
built the clinic in Tinangol, men from Tangkarason built the clinic in Pantai. They even
provided all the timber, beams and all other wooden materials, having cut tree trunks from the
jungle into planks and planed them. The Basel Mission also provided the nurses for these
clinics. In the Sikuati clinic, a Chinese woman assisted the nurse in her daily work, also
helping in the nurse’s household. Some day a Momogun girl came to the clinic with a sick
relative from her family. Watching the nurse at work with so many sick people around, the
girl started to assist the nurse in her work. At that time it was unheard of among the
Momogun people to interfere with sick people, as doing so was believed to come into contact
with the realm of the spirits. No one would touch a sick person apart from one's own relatives
in order to keep away from any spiritual influence. Yet this girl helped the nurse without
being afraid and, after a while, stayed with the nurse and learned how to treat sick people.
Even the Medical Officer from Kudat was surprised and arranged for her to get proper
training as a nurse. In this way, Momogun girls began to be trained as nurses. Quite a few
young women took up such training after having completed their primary and secondary
education. Many of them now work in Government hospitals and clinics.

Another conference of the church elders from 29 - 31. August 1964

There had been various meetings of the church elders during 1963, but there are no existing
records of these meetings in the archives of the Basel Mission. As far as can be established
from memories, nothing new was discussed, only the old questions of marriage and the
growth of the congregations were on the agenda. At a further conference in August1964, the
first after Sabah had obtained its freedom from colonialism and had joined Malaysia, this new
situation was to be discussed. How should congregations carry on amongst the Momogun
people, how could the propagation of the Gospel be continued in other longhouses and how
could new congregations grow and be supported? It was decided that Osuman should stay at
Pantai as their evangelist and that there should also be an evangelist stationed at
Molongkolong, at Nangko and at Baving. A small group was set up to prepare a constitution
of a future church. It had been felt that as soon as Malaysia had been established, it would
also be necessary to establish the church in Sabah. Should the Basel Mission no longer be
allowed to work in Sabah, then there would be already a church able to administer the
congregations. This committee for the church constitution comprised the headman Madalag,
the elders Onginjan, Osuin, Mojihi, headman Tuorong, elder Asim, Daang, Majaman,
Majimil, Diyun and the pastors Forschner, Dilger and Sigrist.

At the meeting, that followed on 3. - 5. August 1965, the church elders agreed on the first
and second part of the constitution, while discussing the third and fourth parts and finalizing
these parts too. While this constitution was being finalized and accepted, Pastor Friedrich
Maier, the representative of the Basel Mission for Asia, arrived. He had been a missionary in
China up until 1950. The church elders asked the Basel Mission to acknowledge this
constitution. During this meeting it was decided to establish the Protestant Church in Sabah at
the conference, which was to follow in April 1966. As for the name PROTESTANT, in
Momogun POTORONTOG, meaning to put up straight anything that was falling or giving the
impression not to be firm upright, it was said that the PRO stands for: in support of, towards,
while the TESTANT implies witnessing. When Luther was expelled from the Roman Catholic
Church, the message of the church with regard to its founder Christ was very distorted. The
church was rather like a business. Therefore all churches following the reformation (meaning
to reform the church towards its original status) called themselves Protestant Churches. The
name Church of the Gospel or in English Evangelical Church has a different meaning, as it
carries with it the meaning/idea of fundamentalism. Those churches do not follow the
tradition of the reformation but have various points forming their basic concept, which do not
comply with the gospel, even if they call themselves the only true Christians. Those churches
also generally have a less fixed form, order and liturgy.

Founding Synod of the Protestant Church in Sabah 18.-20. April 1966

At the next conference of the church elders, the PCS was established when this meeting was
unanimously called the first synod of the PCS. This happened in the following way: the
delegates of the congregations assembled in the Church building of the Chinese Church and
held the inauguration service of the PCS, asking for God’s blessing for this part of His
church. At that time there was not yet a church building at the mission station in Kudat.
Earlier, the constitution had been certified and the church committee elected: Asim from
Kodungkung, Osuin from Lajong, Mogiling from Tinangol, Basang from Pantai, Dilger,
Rusterholz, Diyun Madalag as General Secretary and Forschner as its president.
At this meeting there were further delegates from Mongkobou, Baving, Dalas, Suangeloi,
Kabatasan, Liu, Dandon and Bilangau. It was decided that Pastor Gugger should visit these
places near the Bengkoka-River. Diyun should evangelise the places near Baving and hold the
Sunday services in these places. However, Diyun accidentally drowned during a typhoon near
Molubang on 20. June 1966, so Osingko and Suyin took over the work at Baving.

Second Synod of the PCS on 28.-30. March 1967

The synod elected Majimil Tuorong as general secretary of the PCS, replacing Diyun who
had died, and Osingko Taganau was chosen as the financial secretary of the PCS. The synod
again discussed pastoral care in the congregations and organized the training and
remuneration of the lay preachers. To finance their pay, it was decided that each family
should supply an amount of four gantang rice per year, if the people had planted and
harvested rice.
The Third Synod on 7.-8. August 1967 had been arranged to coincide with the synod of the
Basel Christian Church of Malaysia (BCCM) in Kudat. Both synods were opened in a joint
service. At this joint service, the Chinese Christians realized that there was now also a
Momogun church and that this church had more members than they had themselves from all
over the towns of Sabah . At the same time, the Momogun understood that they were not the
only church of Christ. Before then, there had only been occasional encounters and joint
services between local Chinese and Momogun Christians at Tajau and Sikuati, which meant
that (only?) two or three congregations had experienced these Christian partnerships and
brother- and sisterhood. Only at this synod did it become clear that there existed both a
Momogun and a Chinese church.
During this meeting, the synod elected Pastor Dilger to replace Pastor Forschner who was
leaving with his family for Germany. Although he was only planning to go on leave for a
limited period of time, in the end, Forschner did not return to Sabah, as the government of
Sabah began to refuse further work permits. Pastor Gugger was also elected to become a
member of the church committee.
Although the PCS had applied to be registered as a society shortly after the founding synod
on 20.4.1966, the Registrar of Society did not confirm the registration until September 1967.
This acknowledgement by the government finalized, so to speak, the establishment of the
PCS as an independent body in Sabah.

Once the station Dandon Liu at Bengkoka was built and ready, Pastor Gugger moved there
in 1966. At the same time a clinic had been built on the grounds of the station. This clinic was
not opened until 1967, as the commissioning of the nurse had been delayed. Gugger was
supplied with a boat in order to be able to visit all the places along the Bengkoka River, but
the few places near the north end of the Bengkoka peninsula were still under the care of the
Kudat station.
During the famine and drought in 1966, there was an attempt to build an earth road from
Konibungan to Pitas with a food supply from Germany. People in need would work on the
road and be paid in kind (rice). At the same time, the road would be ready for transport from
the East to the West coast of Bengkoka, allowing travel even when it was impossible to
circumvent the peninsula. This was especially necessary in the case of any emergency. The
road was somehow finished, but did not really serve its purpose for various reasons.
Nevertheless, people in need had received provisions during the famine, and the work of the
mission in organizing villages to clear the jungle and build roads finally encouraged the
government to improve these beginnings. Since that time roads have provided more and more
access to the villages, eventually opening up the whole district of Kudat.

The PCS at the end of 1967 was organized into five church districts with their respective
pastors: Dilger at Kudat, Rennstich at Sikuati, Rusterhholz at Tinangol, Gugger at Dandon,
Gerber at Pantai. At the third synod, the church numbered seventy-seven congregations and
places of regular worship. By the end of the year, the report was already telling of ninety-nine
places with 3354 baptized Christians and 6514 worshippers altogether. The school for the lay
preachers had been moved to Kudat early in 1967, and was moved again to Bavang Gazo in
August 1968.

The School for Domestic Science at Tinangol was opened in 1967, with Miss Ernst in
charge. She had already gained experience while staying in Pantai, leading courses for
women. That helped her to find the right approach to teaching teenage girls who did not have
any basic education. The school aimed to provide young women with knowledge about health
and family care. Together with the building for this school, a further station was built next to
the school to provide living quarters for Mr Stettler, the supervisor of the native voluntary
schools. He had stayed earlier in one of the teacher’s quarters of the Lajong School, but left to
make room for more Lajong teachers. Later on, this station became the centre of the Tinangol
district and for its pastor.

List of the first villages, when they started to become a congregation, first got baptized, the
first temporary church building , later replaced with a permanent building

Village Name Entered PCS 1st Baptism 1st Church Permanent Ch.
Building
Masangkung 3. 53 8. 53 8. 53 10. 10.64
Ronggu/Lodung 5. 53 25. 12. 53 25. 12.53 December 63
Lajong/Tinutudan 8. 53 4. 55 25. 12.53 13. 4. 1960
Kumbatang SDA 54 4. 55 4. 55 4. 55 27. 7. 1960
Tiga Papan 10. 1953 4. 56 8. 56 12. 11.64
Kodungkung ~53 ~ 54 ~1963 25. 12. 66
Kimihang ~53 ~57 ~1958 25. 12. 65
Pituru ~53 ~1961 23. 5. 68
Suangpai ~54 ~56 ~1962
Merebau SDA ~54 ~58 5. 4. 1958 19. 10. 1961
Loro 't opodok ~54 23. 6. 68 13. 9. 64 25. 12.67
Garau ~54 23. 3. 67 ~ 1963
Barambangun ~55 5. 4. 63 ~ 9.60
Popot 26. 7. 56 3. 57 19. 7. 1959
Rampai ~57 22.9. 68 ~1967
Vingolon ~57 21. 6. 57 15. 5. 65
Rondomon ~57 ~60 ~58
Tuhau ~57 ~1965 ~1967
Angkob ~57 ~60 25. 11. 65
Tinangol ~59 ~21965 ~1968
Radtak ~62 ~1965 ~1965 ~1968
Narandang ~63 ~1967 ~1967
Garib ~64 ~1965 ~1967
Mompilis ~64
Bodu ~64
Kirangavan ~64 ~ 1967 ~1967
Loro't agazo ~64 12. 1966
Botutai ~64 ~1968
Pantai 5. 1964 ~1965 ~1964
Golom ~64 ~1966 21. 8. 66
Boribi ~64 ~1968
Lingkuton ~64 2. 67 2. 67
Taradas ~64 1. 67 11. 66
Sulakolung ~64
Tangkarason ~64 12. 66 9. 5. 65
Baving ~64 ~1965
Dalas ~64
Liu-Dandon ~64 ~1966 ~1966
Suangeloi ~65 ~1966 ~1966
Mandurian ~65 ~1966 ~1967
Nangko ~65 ~1968 ~1966
Pinampadan ~65 12. 66 3. 4. 1966
Medan, Pias, ~65
Manduring, Mapad
Kabatasan, Gunsali, ~1966
Rosob, Kobon
Rukom,
Bilangau,Mangkau-
bangkau, Tombilidon
Bonsiut, Tongkovit,
Gumandang ~1966 2. 6. 68 ~1966 DM 231.267
Enggaton ~66 4. 8. 68 ~1966
Pinampang ~66 11. 1968 ~1968
Tinukadan ~66 21. 1. 1968 ~1968
Bambatu ~66
Torongkungan ~66 19. 9. 67 4. 7. 67
Ponudaan ~66 ~1968 ~1967
Gombizau, Lotong, ~67
Sinukab, Tanggui,
Pinggan-Pinggan,
Porupuk, Mandamai,
Sumbilidon, Nungu,
Penapak, Mandurian
Ulu,
Bonduk-Kiopu ~67 25. 8. 68 5. 5. 68
Muhang ~67
Pomonzukan ~67 ~1968 ~1968
Timog, Onduon, ~67
Pinavantai,
 Guomon ~67 ~1968 ~1968
Bintasan, Mangin ~67
Norungan, ~68
Botition/Moriun,
Kampar, Timbang
Batu, Mosolog,
Kapok

For all these congregations, there were dates detailing when either the whole longhouse or
some members of the longhouse decided to become Christians, when the first temporary
church building was built, the first baptism took place and a permanent building was
constructed and dedicated.
(The Momogun edition of this history stated that for all the places and congregations not
mentioned above, either no record existed or the church office had not been notified. It also
admonished the congregations and church districts to report all the available details as
mentioned above to the General Secretary).
Looking back at the growth of the PCS, it is clear that during the transition of leadership from
the missionaries to the indigenous leaders, the task of recording and collecting data in an
archive had been neglected. One pastor in charge of the Sikuati parish had even destroyed all
the family records, when he left. These records had been painstakingly collected for the
Sikuati parish, giving details of the families, their children and ancestors, birth, marriage and
death dates, their interrelationships with all the families in their longhouse and even the
background of the longhouse tradition over one or more generations. The handover from the
Western missionaries to the new parsons had withstood the test of the time. Afterwards there
was a great fluctuation with the parsons in charge of the various parishes. This did not help to
create some continuity. It was and still is difficult to organize an administration when there is
no proper precedent indicating which way things should be administered and recorded.

For this reason, the following records of the meetings of the church elders and the synods
of the PCS may offer some examples and details of what the concerns and aims of these
conferences had been. Some of the matters dealt with at these meetings have already been
mentioned above. Yet they are described here in full to help establish the important points and
questions, as well as the decisions taken at these meetings.

1. First meeting of the church elders 29.-31.12.1955

At the end of 1955 the first meeting of leaders of the congregations took place with the aim of
establishing an order for the congregations and considering the importance of being a Church
of Christ. The discussion was reported in the following way:
We missionaries encouraged the elders to discuss and sort out the old traditions, deciding
which parts of these traditions could be used by Christians as far as they complied with the
Word of God, and which parts are no longer suitable, being connected with the power of the
spirits. Or, more directly: what about the Adat regarding birth, betrothal, marriage, burial
and remembering the dead. During the meeting, we missionaries were very satisfied that the
church elders themselves decided on the marriage age for young people. They declared that a
young man and a young woman had to be twenty years old before they could marry.
On the second day, the discussion concentrated on harvesting rituals. Formerly one could
only begin threshing the rice after a chicken had been offered as a sacrifice to the spirit
Bambarazon and before the husked rice could be put into the rice hut. Mr Honegger then told
them that the people in Switzerland or the Dayaks in Kalimantan had an alternative
procedure, celebrating the harvest with a feast in the church in order to thank God for the
year’s harvest. He then continued by asking whether this might also be a good solution for
them.
There was a further point of discussion: the collection during the service. How much of the
collection should be used for the local congregation and how much could be given to the fund
to provide for the lay helpers.
Actually, the decision on the marriage age had been taken in a hurry. After the meeting it
became clear that not even one church elder was following this decision.

2. Meeting of the church elders April 1956

The next conference of the elders of the congregations took place in Sikuati, when 43 elders
from 25 villages came together. At that time, Christians from different villages worshipped
together in one church building (e.g. in the church of Ronggu, Christians assembled from the
villages Ronggu, Lodung, Kusilad, Kodungkung and Pituru). Many of the elders had not yet
been baptized and the meeting lasted for one and a half days. This is what Pastor Honegger
wrote about this meeting:
We discussed the order of the congregation in general terms. The subject of the discussion
was as follows: What should Christians retain from the former Dusun Adat on the matters of
birth, betrothal, marriage and wedding, burial and the planting of hill rice? What parts of the
Adat should be discarded for the reason that the Word of God is the light?
We provisionally settled the following aspects of an order for the congregation: who was to
be responsible for the church building and who was to be in charge of the worship service.
The discussion about the harvest festival concluded, that there should be a thanksgiving at the
time when the rice is stored in the rice hut. We also settled the way in which the collections
should be used in support of the work of the evangelists serving in other places, to honour
their efforts.
We missionaries were very glad to see how the elders understood and participated in the
meeting. It was also agreed that there should be regular meetings every six months.

3. Third meeting of the elders in April 1957 in Sikuati

The representative of the Basel Mission Committee, Pastor Witschi, known as the Big Pastor
due to his size, also attended this meeting. During this meeting, various lectures on St. Paul’s
First letter to the Corinthians (3,11 and 12,1-12) were given, as Paul explained in these
chapters how a congregation should be ordered. These few verses told the assembly the base
of an order for the Christian congregations. The Christian congregation in Corinth was in a
similar situation and had had problems similar to the Christians in Sabah.
It became clear during this meeting, that it would not be easy to come to a conclusion on how
congregations should be administered. Further attention to the Bible would be needed; simply
listening to the experience of Christians in other countries would not be enough. It was
necessary to find in Sabah an understanding of the aims and purpose of the Word of God.
Only then would it be possible to follow the Lord and give witness to Jesus as the Saviour.

4. Fourth meeting of the elders on 14.-15. July 1958 in Sikuati

At this meeting, the way to administer and lead a congregation was discussed in various
groups. First of all, an outline from Scripture was given regarding the state of the individual
Christian and the Christian congregation, and how the life of each Christian and his family
and the whole congregation should reflect Christianity in their respective village. From some
of the suggestions from the earlier meetings, ten points had been tabled for an Order of the
Christian Congregation, which had been prepared beforehand by a group of elders, lay-
helpers and the Pastors Haeusermann and Forschner. All these sections were supported by
verses from the Scripture and were applied to the situation in Sabah (at that time one still used
the British name North Borneo for Sabah). This order was to help Christians to determine a
Christian way of life that is not blended with a tradition bound to the spirits.
After a considerable time spent introducing and discussing this, it was finally decided that the
order should be made the Order of the congregations. The elders agreed and seconded this,
promising to follow this Order of the congregations from then on .

5. Meeting of the elders in January 1959 in Sikuati

At the end of January 1959, there was another meeting of the elders in Sikuati on the subject:
The holiness of the Christian congregation and the way towards a true Christian life for
every Christian. Once again, all the lectures followed the teachings of the Scriptures. At that
time a translation of the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians had been available, prepared
during the Bible course for Lay preachers in Sikuati. These lay preachers assisted in
expounding the themes and the heart of these teachings.
1. Cor. 6,1-8 The unity of the Christian congregation and the troubles, quarrels within a
congregation. Paul said: Christians do not bring others before the court to be tried by a judge
who belongs to another religion. Christians should make peace and settle their differences
within the congregation.
1. Cor. 6,9-11 If there are problems within the congregation, it is the congregation that must
care for each Christian and help make sure that no-one goes astray or falls.
1. Cor. 6,12-20 The holiness of Christians is based on the blood of Jesus. Having been
redeemed by this very high price, how could one turn away again from Christ and do wrong
again?
During the meeting, Majimil Tuorong and Diyun Madalag reiterated the Order of the
Christian Congregation and continued to explain it point by point so that the order would
reach the hearts of the elders.

6. Sixth meeting of the elders in Sikuati on 29.-30. June 1959

The main purpose of the discussion at this meeting was: The task and work of the elders
within their congregation. The lectures about these tasks were taken from the Scriptures as
follows:
Matthew 20,25-28 The origin of the caretaker work of the elders
Matthew 18,15-17 The way to bring back Christians who had left the order of the
congregation as part of pastoral care.
1. Timothy 3,1-7 The identity of the church elder, his behaviour and responsibility.

It is a pity that despite all the discussions nothing was gleaned, recorded and added to the
outline of the Order of the Christian Congregation. This could have helped the elders to
execute their duties, especially as the old Adat, also their own wishes and those of the persons
concerned often disagreed with the aims of the Scriptures and the Order of the Congregation.
It was still very difficult for the elders to stick to the Word of the Bible and use the Bible as
the criterion and as the New Adat of Christian life.

7. Meeting of the elders in Sikuati on 1.- 2. January 1960

During this meeting Pastor Honegger and Sigrist gave talks on the purpose of prayers. The
lectures followed Matthew 6, 5-14-The Lords Prayer. There are no minutes from this
conference as the writer was on leave in Germany at that time.

8. Meeting of the elders in Sikuati on 26.- 27. July 1961

At this time the pastors had been given the right to certify marriages according to the
Christian Marriage Ordinance of the State of Sabah (in place of the Registrar for marriages).
For this reason the topic of this conference was to introduce the Christian Marriage Ordinance
of the State and to explain what Christian marriage means according to the Bible, in order to
have this marriage order accepted by the elders for use in the congregations. These were the
lectures during the meeting:
1. The Christian Marriage Ordinances declared that Christians should have their marriage
legalized before the congregation and the state. This includes the application for marriage and
the way in which the wedding is witnessed, signed and registered at the district office.
2. How God provided mankind for this particular partnership of man and woman. It is the
individual himself or herself that chose their respective partner, not the parents or any of the
relatives. But a person must be an adult and must have the necessary awareness in order to be
able to make this choice. It is wrong to marry off children and individuals who have not yet
passed into adulthood.
3. Marriage is a union of body and heart; a union, which excludes any other partners, and a
union until death.
4. Marriage begins in front of the congregation and the government, as the pastor acts on
behalf of the government and sends the certificate of marriage to the district registrar of
marriages.
It was decided to implement this marriage order within the congregations. But it was not easy
to change the former way of marrying and holding a wedding in the village. It had already
become a habit to settle first everything between the prospective families and elders up to the
young man moving in with the girl’s family. Only then the pastor was asked to bless the
couple in church.

9. Church elders' conference in Sikuati, 22.- 23. October 1962

The topic of this conference was how a Christian congregation should live within the
population of Sabah. This subject was outlined in three lectures:
1. First Corinthian 12: The congregation and church is the body of Christ
2. First Cor. 15,58 The resolution of the congregation and church and its work is not in vein.
3. First Cor. 16,13 Christians have a responsibility to the government.
This meeting took place shortly before the very first election in Sabah. Christians had asked
for an explanation of what this election meant and how the country would live and be ruled in
this new situation. The elders understood from the teaching of the Bible that the Christians
had the task and duty within the population to witness the will of God regarding the behaviour
and actions of men, so that the country may be blessed and supervised by the grace and care
of God.

10. Church elders’ conference at Kudat, 29. - 30. July 1964

This meeting was concerned with how a Rungus church could be established. Two lectures
were given to present this idea:
1. First Thessalonica 5,12-13. The grave responsibility of the leaders of a congregation to care
for the congregation.
2. Pastoral care for Christian neighbours, helping to bear the heavy burdens of others, how to
save other people, how to comfort people in trouble and to bring someone back into the fold,
if they have gone astray, how to reconcile members with each other and how to work
together.
A further point of discussion that had to be decided was the manner in which each
congregation should be organized and how all the congregations could be organized together
and be part of the Sabah churches.
A small committee was then set aside to consider the Constitution of the Church in Sabah.
It was also announced that many villages had asked to be visited and taught about the Gospel.
There were already some people from Pantai in the Bengkoka Peninsula who had accepted
Christianity, therefore the meeting agreed to post Osuman in Pantai as an evangelist and
Majimil in Molongkolong. The whole assembly of elders was glad to hear that the Gospel had
reached Bengkoka and the places south of Kudat.

11. Conference of the elders at Kudat, 21. - 23. April 1965

This meeting took place after Easter and was concerned with the understanding and
verification of Christian marriage as what it means to marry and to be married. (The Rungus
tradition differentiated between the active part of the male partner and the passive role of the
female partner in the act of marriage)
This meeting began with a joint service of Chinese and Momogun Christians at the Chinese
Church in Kudat, and was also intended to greet the Chinese Head pastor Chee and
commission him for his journey to Basel. He had been invited to attend the 150th anniversary
of the Basel Mission and was to represent as well his Chinese church and the congregations of
the Momogun at this gathering in Basel.
Afterwards there was a discussion of the point, that for a marriage to function in the right
way, the persons wanting to marry must be an adult in both mind and body. Additionally, the
partners planning to marry should carefully consider their intentions by planning and
providing what is needed in the marriage, and should not to go against the will of their
parents. Last but not least, they should start a life that is not dependent on the parents of the
woman. It was agreed that the elders should accept this idea of marriage and follow this order
of Christian marriage.

12. Conference of the church elders at Kudat from 20. -22. July 1965
This meeting was concerned with the growth of the Rungus church, therefore the lectures
were taken from First Corinthians 3,11, Jesus Christ as the only foundation of the church
following the first and second article of the proposed church constitution:
1. The church in Sabah is a part of the universal Church, which is the Church of Christ.
2. The church understands that there is only one foundation of its faith and that is the Holy
Bible; that the Apostle’s Creed is like a stronghold for believing and that the Holy Spirit
assists and guards the church.
The elders accepted these two proposed articles of the constitution and the third and fourth
articles were set out:
3. The church is a union of believers who follow the way towards the kingdom of God
according the Will of God. The church lives by worshipping and witnessing God in the midst
of the other people.
4. The baptism is a sign that one has joined the church. During the baptism, God reveals
himself and gives a sign that the person now belongs to God. It is not knowledge and the way
of believing which is most important but the grace of God that touches the person who asks to
be baptized. It is not a matter of being already an adult and believing wholeheartedly. The
faith of the parents asking that their child should receive baptism is enough to have children
blessed with the grace of God through baptism.

13. Conference of the church elders at Kudat on 13. - 14. November 1965
This meeting continued reading and explaining the church constitution, from article five to
article ten. At the end, the conference agreed that the congregations should accept this
constitution and thus become the Protestant Church in Sabah. The representative of the Basel
Mission, Friedrich Maier, was present at this conference. He said that the committee of the
Basel Mission accepted that the Christian congregations in Sabah had established themselves
as the Protestant Church in Sabah. Hereafter the elders decided that the very next conference
should become the first synod confirming the establishment of the PCS. The Momogun name
should be Gorija di Potorontog sid Sabah with the meaning: a church that always seeks and
strives to be a upright church in case the church would experience any falling or skidding (a
figurative speech for a building or a person). This is actually also the meaning of the term
Protestant - to bear witness to the right order if ever the witness and work of the church to its
Lord should get distorted or would fail.

First Synod of the Protestant Church in Sabah at the church headquarters in Kudat, 19.
- 20. April 1966
The purpose of this gathering was the establishment of the Protestant Church in Sabah. The
following lectures were to explain the meaning of becoming a church and how we have
become part of this church. 1st Corinthian 15,1-20 Jesus has risen. 1st Cor. 15,21-28 Adam
and the new Mankind. 1st Cor. 35-50 The resurrection of the body. 1st Corinthians 15,58
Because Jesus is alive this makes us faithful followers today.
The gathering once again unanimously accepted the establishment of our church, which
originated in the work of the Basel Mission proclaiming the gospel, together with the
assistance of the Holy Spirit, who opened up the hearts of the Momogun people. As soon as
the assembly had accepted that this meeting was to establish this church, the representatives
of the congregations elected the Church President and the Executive Committee, the Vice-
President, the General Secretary and Treasurer. When the church elders began the process of
electing the president, there was a certain amount of uncertainty among them. They asked the
missionaries present what would happen when the Protestant Church had been established:
“Are you leaving and returning to your country or are you still prepared to assist us here in
Sabah? It is quite obvious that we are not yet ready to organize ourselves and to carry on on
our own! Is it possible to chose one of you for this office?” They wanted their doubts about
independence to be cleared. As this was agreed, the gathering elected Traugott Forschner to
be the President and Diyun Madalag to be the Vice-President. Tinzan from Lajong was
elected as Treasurer and Mr Dilger as General Secretary.
After the election of the office bearers, the President made the point that he would apply to
the government for the registration of the PCS. The conclusion of this first synod took place
in the form of an inauguration worship service in the church building of the Chinese Church.
Quite a few Chinese Christians took part in this service and witnessed the existence of the
Momogun Church in Sabah. This Momogun Church had emerged and was established on the
20th April 1966.

Second Synod of the PCS in March 1967 at Church Headquarters in Kudat

The day after Easter 1967, the second synod of the PCS took place. The synod was concerned
with the growth of the church, how funds could be collected, how the evangelists and
preachers should be trained and how the contributions of the church members should be
arranged. As regards the contributions, it was decided that a family should provide one tin of
rice per year. All decisions made were still only provisional, according to the constitution of
the Protestant Church in Sabah, as the registration of the church was still pending.
The conclusion of this synod was celebrated once more in a Eucharist worship service in the
Chinese Church, as a way of confirming our unity and community in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ.

Third Synod of the PCS on 7. -8. August 1967 at the Church Headquarters Kudat
This synod was mainly concerned with the duties and work of the church elders in their
congregations. The following points were outlined for this purpose:
1. The church elders are chosen by God. Their office is not something attained by their own
will and desire to be a leader.
2. The church elders are to continue in the proclamation of the Gospel, follow Christian rules
and act according to the Word of God.
3. The church elders can be likened to a roof in the way they provide shelter and protection
for the congregation. If a roof is leaking, all the other parts of the house will be affected and
decay.
4. A church elder can be compared to a nail, which has to be replaced every four years. If a
nail gets rusty it must be replaced with a new nail. In the same way, the task of leading and
strengthening the congregation needs fresh motivation from time to time.
The opening of this synod took the form of a joint worship together with the synod of the
Basel Christian Church of Malaysia, which was in session at this time in Kudat. After this
service, the committees of the BCCM and the PCS had a public dinner in a hotel in Kudat to
celebrate the encounter.
During the course of the synod Pastor Otto Dilger was elected to replace Traugott Forschner
who was leaving for Germany on the 25th of August 1967. This leave was necessary as his
children were due to start school. In Germany he planned to continue preparing translations of
the Scripture, some Momogun dictionaries and a Momogun grammar during his leave. As a
result of the more severe rules regarding foreigners under the government with Tun Mustapha
as Chief Minister, Forschner did not return to Sabah. The government had begun to turn down
the extension of work permits and further residence in Sabah.

Fourth Synod of the PCS, 17. - 19. April 1968 at the Church Headquarters Kudat
At this synod the president was able to inform the assembly that the PCS has at last been
registered by the Registrar of Societies of Malaysia, meaning that the PCS has been
acknowledged as a legal organisation in Malaysia. At that time the PCS had a membership of
6514 people, of which 3354 had been baptized in a total of 99 congregations.
The main topic of the gathering was concerned with marriage matters: the bridal-price and
counselling married couples. The synod agreed on a Regulation of Betrothal (Hoturan do
Mirait). 79 delegates agreed to adopt this regulation.
There was also a discussion on how to honour deceased relatives (mongukas). The outcome
of this discussion was as follows: the synod agreed that there should be a service at Easter at
the burial ground in which the deceased person would be remembered before God. In the
same way, the name of the deceased persons should be mentioned at the end of the
ecclesiastical year, i.e. on First Advent, and remembered during the worship service.
The synod also confirmed O. Dilger in his office as President, Majimil Tuorong as General
Secretary, Tinsan Amu as Treasurer and Basang, Osuin, Masandul Kastum, Karl Rennstich,
Heinrich Rusterholz and Ueli Gerber as members of the Executive Committee of the PCS.
Despite the fact that the church building on the grounds of the PCS headquarters had not yet
been completed, the synod took place in this new building of PCS. A guest from Kalimantan,
the president of the Protestant Kalimantan Church (GKE) Pastor Kiting, attended this synod
in order to initiate a partnership with the Kalimantan Church.

Fifth Synod of the PCS, 3. - 6. October 1969 at the Headquarters of the PCS in Kudat
Guests from Germany, Basel, BCCM and GKE had been invited to this synod and attended
the gathering. At this time the pastors Neubauer and Rusterholz and Mr Voegeli and Mr.
Staehelin were still in the country. Only Sister Ruth Weber had left for good. It had become
clear that the government would intensify its efforts to expel the missionaries. For this reason,
the synod considered how the church and the congregations should be organized in the
context of this new situation. It was feared that if all pastors were to be expelled, the church
would no longer be in a position to grow further. Therefore the synod discussed an alternative
way of leading the congregations, i.e. a team ministry (Tumpuk do Kopitatabangan). Having
considered this possibility, the synod decided to introduce the team ministry, proposing and
agreeing right away on which congregations this team ministry should be installed in. The
following team ministries were decided on:
a) Pantai, Golom, Lingkuton and Boribi
b) Tangkarason, Pinampadan and Medan
c) Nangko, Marbahai and Lokuton
d) Lodung, Kusilad and Dompiring
e) Mongkobou, Tanggui and Dalas
g) Botition and Tandek
These various team ministries had already been agreed on during the course of the synod. The
synod instructed the church committee to decide on further team ministries. This was carried
out accordingly with the team ministry of Angkob and Vingolon and of Rondomon, Tuhau
and Pata.
As for the lay preachers, it was decided that they should have an distinctive uniform
consisting of a long-armed black shirt with a so called white dog collar. The synod was shown
a sample of these shirts which had first been introduced in the congregation of Botition. This
pastoral dress should be worn during baptism services, at the Lord's supper and during
wedding services.
The way to install a lay preacher in the team ministry was decided by the synod in the
following way: The pastor of a church district or the Parish in Charge is responsible for the
installation of the team pastor. At this installation service, two delegates from the Executive
Committee are to be present as witnesses of the installation.
The synod accordingly passed an amendment to Article 6 of the constitution, reading as
follows: The pastors will be assisted by the team pastors in preaching and administering the
sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper.
Another point was decided during the synod in regard to marriage and weddings: Christians
should be allowed to choose between the way of the Christian Marriage Ordinance and the
way following the Native Court according to the village tradition.
Should the village tradition be chosen, Christians could still ask to have their marriage
blessed in the church, whereby the congregation would be witnesses of these Christians’
marriage.
The synod also elected Patrick Manjil Madalag to be the new President of the PCS, replacing
pastor O. Dilger. Team pastor Masanduh Majupi was elected as Vice President
Because of the pressure from other religions at that time, the president explained that in
matters of religion, according to the Constitution of the State of Sabah, it was said that every
Sabahan had the right to choose whatever religion he or she wished to follow. It was
forbidden either to press and demand or hinder anyone concerning their religious aspirations.
With this, the synod was concluded.

Sixth Synod of the PCS, 14. - 16. May 1971 at Church headquarters in Kudat
The membership of the church by now amounted to 8700 Christians, but since the last synod
some five hundred Christians of the PCS had left. At the time of the synod, seven hundred
more had become Christians in various congregations. The synod had to explain that the
annual collection had decreased due to the floods, which had destroyed the new harvest, while
the year before a drought had resulted in a very poor rice harvest. Due to this lack of rice, it
was decided that in future, the annual collection per family or person could be contributed in
cash, two Ringgit instead of one tin of rice.
The synod elected a committee to be in charge of the PCS properties. The office bearers of
this trustee committee were: Patrick Manjil Madalag, Majimil Tuorong, Pastor Dilger and
Pastor Poong Shon Khon. They were given the power of attorney to sign on behalf of the
PCS.
The team ministries of Sikuati, Tinangol, Dandun, Pantai and Sinimpadan were decided (on).

Seventh Synod of the PCS, 16. - 18. June 1972 at Church headquarters in Kudat
This synod elected a replacement for Pastor Dilger on the Executive Committee, as Mr.
Dilger had to leave Sabah. Andan Mongintod took over from Mr. Dilger. As Team Pastor,
Masanduh had returned from a visit to Indonesia, and reported to the synod about the Batak
Church in Sumatera. Various other minor points were discussed and decided during the
synod. The synod had to acknowledge the fact that the lay training centre at Bavang Gazo had
to close, as there was no longer a lecturer or any teachers. All of them had been expelled.

Eighth Synod of the PCS, 22. - 24. May 1973 at Church headquarters in Kudat
The representative of the Committee of the Basel Mission, Miss Jenny and Pastor
Haeusermann, as well as a delegate from the BCCM, Pastor Chong Yu Kiong attended. this
synod. In the name of the BCCM Pastor Chong was able to tell the synod that the BCCM had
agreed to send Pastor Thu En Yu and Tong Far Dung to work with the PCS in the various
parishes. Team pastors Masanduh Majupi and Masandul Kastum were elected as the PCS
partners in a Joint Committee with the BCCM. Before the synod it had been agreed to send
three graduates from the government schools to study theology at Trinity College in
Singapore. These students were Matius Majihi, Kololong Sokuroh and Inggol Puluk.

Ninth Synod of the PCS, 7. -9. June 1974 at Bavang Gazo, Tinangol
Before this synod could be opened, the government’s security officer had taken the President
Manjil Madalag into custody at the Kudat Police Station for the whole day. After his return,
the synod was concerned with the problem of the land belonging to the Basel Mission’s
former Farm School in Bavang Gazo. It was decided that members should be invited to work
together in sustaining this plantation.
It was necessary to amend the article in the constitution on church discipline in view of
church members who had left the church to join another religion, but wished to return again
to Christianity. Their return should follow a different path in as much as they would need a
written declaration from the other religious leader stating that they had left that religion. Only
then could the PCS receive these people back into the Christian community.
As far as the marriage certificate was concerned, it was agreed that the fee to be paid to the
office bearers should be two Ringgit.

Tenth Synod of the PCS, 27. -30. July 1975 at Bavang Gazo, Tinangol
This synod was called the synod of the police. As soon as the synod had been opened, the
police arrived, sealed off the area and took all twelve members of the Executive Committee of
the PCS into custody. All the delegates of the congregations were sent home without delay.

Eleventh Synod of the PCS, 28. - 31. July 1976 at Bavang Gazo
The minutes of this synod were written in English and in Momogun. Present at this synod
were Pastor Honegger, Pastor Kiting from GKE, Banjermasin, Pastor Yusak Sakai from
GKPI Tarakan and Pastor Chong Yuk Kiong from BCCM.
Already before the beginning of the synod, the presidency had been transferred from Majnil
Madalag to Masandoh Majupi, as the former president had accepted another position with the
government. Manjil gave a report of his visit to and participation at the Assembly of the
World Council of Churches (WCC) in Nairobi in 1975. (This assembly of the WCC takes
place once every seven years and its participants include representatives from more than 300
churches from all over the world). He told the synod how the PCS had also applied for
membership with the WCC and had been accepted as member No. 312. The delegates were
delighted to hear that the PCS had been accepted as part of the worldwide and universal
Church.
There were various points on the agenda: the way Christian marriage and the wedding should
be organized and how records of marriages should be kept and handled. The synod was also
concerned about the abuse of alcoholic beverages and how Christians should behave
regarding this matter.
The synod also had to confirm the offices of the acting President Team Pastor Masandoh
Majupi from Tangkarason, the Vice President Team Pastor Majimil Tuorong from
Masangkung, the General Secretary Team Pastor Opook Sokuroh, Tinangol, the Vice
Secretary Team Pator Olusin Sogumpit from Merebau, and the General Treasurer Henry
Gonduman Marajam from Rondomon.
The following sections of the PCS leadership were officially installed and the duty bearers
appointed: Joint Committee with the BCCM, The Hostel Committee, The Committee for the
Bible School at Tinangol (Sekolah Al Kitab Tinangol SAT), the Committee of the School for
Domestic Science at Tinangol, the Trustee Committee and the Full Time Workers Committee
of the PCS.
Before closing the synod, the Basel Mission was requested to send missionaries to work as
teachers in the Bible school SAT, with the condition that these persons should know the
Momogun language.

Twelfth Synod of the PCS, 25. - 28. July 1977 at Bavang Gazo, Tinangol
The report from this synod states the number of PCS members as being 13,594 at that time.
As it had become clear by then that many members were scattered around the capital. Kota
Kinabalu, Patrick Manjil Madalag was asked to look after these members and assist them in
their faith. Manjil agreed.
The clearing of the land at the former farm school Bavang Gazo was once again organized as
a joint operation between the congregations. Dr Rennstich, who was at that time a lecturer at
Trinity College in Singapore and the intermediary for the Basel Mission and the PCS, gave a
lecture about Church discipline and administration.
Before the synod took place, it had already been decided that Pastor Thui En Yu, who had
been in Hong Kong to further his studies, should be stationed at the Kudat Headquarters with
the task of holding training courses for the evangelists and lay preachers as well as for the
church elders, following the principles of what is known worldwide as TEE (Theological
Education by Extension).
Matius Majupi, who was still doing his practical (training) for Trinity College in Singapore,
had been in charge of the Tinangol Parish. The synod wanted to extend his time at Tinangol
for another year as there was no alternative person for this parish, so he was only to return to
Singapore and complete his studies after this additional year.
When the synod was told about the aims and purpose of the Federation of Churches in
Malaysia, it was agreed that they should apply for membership of the Federation of Churches
in Malaysia.
Another point of discussion and reiteration was the Christian Marriage Ordinance and its use
in the congregations.

Thirteenth Synod of the PCS, 26. - 28. July 1978 at Church headquarters in Kudat
The theme of this synod was: Your Kingdom come (Matthew 6,10), following the theme of
the next Assembly of the WCC on matters of Mission, which was to take place in Melbourne
Australia in 1980.
It was said that from the Lord's Prayer, with which Jesus taught his followers and us how to
pray, we Christians are reminded of Jesus who has power over the whole world (Matthew
28,16-20). He made Christians be witnesses of his power and his love among all people and
nations. We Christians should be symbols of his Kingdom and God's rule over the universe.
Because of this role, the church and its members live their lives with the aim of expanding
Christ's rule over the world.
During the discussion, the government’s financial assistance for the churches was considered.
Should the PCS accept such funds at all and thus become dependent on the state or could this
state support be considered to be the state's acknowledgement of the work of the churches
towards the well being of the population? It was agreed that these funds should be accepted,
but that the Church should try to use them together with its own funds in a kind of joint
venture. The government funds should not constitute the only financial means of constructing
church buildings, with no contribution from the church itself or the congregation.
The synod decided to install a committee to administer the government funds, and a further
committee to find a way to deal with members who married a second partner. This was
intended to act as a shield for the families.
Regarding Christian burials, it was arranged that the sign of a cross should be placed at the
head end of the grave. It should not be obligatory to cover a grave with a cement structure,
but should depend on the means of the family of the deceased. In either case, a meal of
remembrance should be held, not according to the traditions of the former Grave Clearing, but
as a gathering intended to commit the deceased to the love and mercy of God.

As far as the following synods 14 to 22 up to 1992 are concerned, the Secretary General had
already agreed in 1990 to write short reports on the findings of these synods. However, at the
point when this manuscript was due to go into print, and despite many reminders, nothing was
put forward that could be inserted here.

The following account details the various sections of the PCS since its establishment.

The various sections of the PCS since its establishment

A. The way of preparing the writings and books in the Momogun language for print.
When the missionaries arrived in Kudat there was not a single Rungus person able to write in
his native language. Only headman Tuorong was able to sign his name in Javi, the Arabic
script.
After a few earlier attempts, the written Momogun language first came into being in 1956,
with the aim of having more and more various Bible Stories available in Momogun. As soon
as any of these stories had been mimeographed, they were distributed among the lay helpers
and preachers for use in the Bible readings in the congregations and groups of worshippers.
For the first Bible Course for Lay helpers (1957-59), a hymn booklet had been prepared with
some twenty hymns and songs in Momogun and other liturgical parts such as a selection of
Psalms, daily prayers, prayers for worship and special situations and an order of service for
worship and for funerals.
During this first Bible course, the Story of Jesus Christ, written in fifty parts as a gospel
harmony, and taken from the four gospels was translated and made ready for mimeographing.
In the same way, fifty stories from the Old Testament, from creation to the prophets, were
taught along with their translation. Three parts of a Momogun Primer were also prepared, first
and foremost to give the children of the lay helpers the chance to learn to read and write
instead of being a nuisance to their fathers in school. Being with the parents at the mission
station, these youngsters were keen to find out what their fathers were doing. This rather
disturbed some of them, seeing that the little daughter was quicker in understanding what had
been written on the blackboard. So this primer made it possible to hold a kind of childrens'
class at the missionary’s home with his wife playing with and teaching these children. As
soon as it was understood that this primer would also be of value to others,- the children had
taken the primer home to the children in their longhouse during their visits and had passed on
their learning to other children and adults - these three Primer parts were mimeographed
repeatedly and spread throughout the longhouses of the Rungus society.
Along with further biblical teachings, the translation of St. Paul's First Letter to the
Corinthians was produced as well as an initial direct attempt to translate the Words of the
Prophet Amos, together with a small commentary on Amos. When reading and explaining
about Amos, it became obvious to the lay helpers how directly Amos’s story related to the
situation of the Rungus people, who were also suffering from oppression, bad rule and being
despised by the rich and mighty. In this Bible Course it was also possible to prepare an Order
of Christian life and of the Christian congregation for use with the church elders.
During the second Bible Course (1960-1961), the gospel of St. Mark was translated and read.
The translation had been ready for mimeographing in November 1960 with just a hundred
copies (with a spirit duplication system which only managed to draw a hundred copies from
the master-copy before the ink was finished). Yet after only four weeks all copies had been
handed out to anyone who could prove that he was already able to read. Further teaching and
Bible readings covered The Acts, First Timothy, First Peter and First Thessalonians. The First
Corinthians was reread and a booklet was put together outlining the meaning and substance of
Christian Faith and Christian Life (Dogmatics and Ethics).
The reading and translation of the Gospel of St. Matthew during various short courses made it
possible to mimeograph the Book of St. Matthew in 1967, and St. Luke and Romans in 1968.
In Basel, the first offset-print of The Stories of Jesus was arranged, with a thousand copies
being made, ready for distribution during 1968. In 1974, the Letter to the Hebrews was
mimeographed in Kudat and, for the Silver Jubilee of the PCS, an Almanac, 25 Years of the
PCS, was printed in 1978.
All these booklets, mimeographed using the mimeograph-machines at the mission and church
headquarters, were reprinted again and again from the same stencils. The hymnbook grew in
size from time to time with further liturgical parts added, including service orders for baptism
and the Lord's Supper. There were more than ten improved and extended versions of this
hymnbook serving the church year after year in a progressive form of worship and singing.
Besides these books, with their teaching of biblical knowledge and understanding of Christian
belief, other books were also produced, e.g. a Momogun Grammar, a Dictionary of the Root-
words of Momogun explained in English, an English Dictionary explained in Momogun and a
collection of Rungus legends and sagas.

In 1978, Rev. T. Forschner visited Sabah. During his stay, the president of the PCS asked the
Protestant Church in Wuerttemberg, Germany to make it possible for Rev. Forschner to
complete the translation of the New Testament by releasing him for the necessary period of
time. As the Church in Germany agreed to this request, Rev. Forschner returned to Sabah
twice in the course of the following two years for three months each. With the assistance of
Mr Osingko Taganau and a few other church members, the translation of the still missing
parts of the New Testament was completed and all the previously translated texts were reread
and revised. On September 4th 1980, some representatives of the PCS discussed the
completion of this translation with the representative of the United Bible Society for the Far
East. It was agreed that the manuscript should be forwarded to the Bible Society of Singapore
for getting printed. Before the end of 1980, 5000 copies of the New Testament in Momogun
arrived in Kudat.
When Rev. Forschner presented the completed manuscript of the New Testament to the
Executive Committee of PCS before leaving for Singapore and Germany, the Committee
applied once more to the Church in Wuerttemberg to release Rev. Forschner for the
translation of the Old Testament. The Committee stated that there were many stories in the
Old Testament that were very close to Momogun tradition and culture. It would also be
possible to pertain our language in a better way by reading the Momogun Bible. As the
children were only taught in the Malay language in school and no longer stayed in the village,
it would be only a short time before they would forget their own language, especially the
more meaningful words. Being away from home, they would no longer hear their own
language on a daily basis. For this reason, the Momogun Bible would be of great value, not
only for the understanding of the Word of God, but even for the preservation of our language,
it was said.
So, in 1981, a translation committee of eight people was formed to prepare a translation of the
Old Testament. In the discussion about the best way to tackle this task, Forschner said at the
first meeting of this committee that it had taken Martin Luther fourteen years to translate the
Old Testament into German. He was not sure whether he would be granted such a long time
to do this on top of the work he was engaged in for the German Church. He pointed out that,
in the Old Testament, there were repetitions and some sections dealing with Jewish tradition
which were not of great importance for the PCS. He also told this committee, that a selective
Old Testament Bible had been made especially for the youth in Germany, with its cover made
of denim, leading to this particular Bible edition being known as the Jeans-Bible and
suggested to follow this selection when tackling a Momogun translation. This committee
came to understand that the task of translating of all the complete portions and chapters of the
Old Testament, sometimes with long passages just listing the names of former generations
and several stories telling how offerings of slaughtered animals should be made, not even
fifteen years would be sufficient to complete this task. It was therefore decided to adopt the
selective nature of the German Jeans Bible in translating the Old Testament, using the
English, Indonesian and Malay versions of the Bible, and also the modern Malay version of
the Good News Bible, while checking would be done by referring to the Hebrew Bible. It
took Rev. Forschner five visits, each of three months duration, to get this translation ready for
print. Each section, once translated, was mimeographed right away for use as Lectio Continua
in the Sunday services and for personal use, allowing a further check of intelligibleness by the
congregations.
At the end of 1985, all portions were completed and ready for print. By the time this
manuscript was presented to the Bible Society in Singapore, a problem turned up. Due to
Custom problem when importing Bibles containing the name Allah for God into Malaysia it
had been decided in the meantime to form the Bible Society of Malaysia in order to
overcome this problem. The manuscript was in Singapore, but the Bible Society of Malaysia
in Kuala Lumpur had not yet started to arrange any printing apart from what had already been
done for the Christian people in West Malaysia. Additionally, this new Bible Society did not
have any means of printing, so the manuscript of the Momogun Bible remained in Singapore
for three years without being printed.
It was only in 1988 that the Bible Society of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur was prepared to
consider printing the Momogun Bible, and had this printing done in Singapore in the same
way. This printing involved quite a few new problems. The print setter did not have any
knowledge of Momogun. The master-copy of the New Testament had been lost at the
Singapore-Bible Society, which meant that even the New Testament had to be reset. The
blueprint included tens of thousands of typing mistakes. The blueprint and the following
second, third, fourth and fifth revisions went back and forth between Singapore and Germany,
with corrections being checked again and again. Sometime during the type setting, pages of
the manuscript had been turned over by the wind resulting in either the text of a few pages
being repeated or left out altogether. Previously corrected pages were also turned over by the
wind, making it necessary to correct them all over again. When the book was finally printed,
it turned out that mistakes were still be found. All the painstaking reading and correcting,
checking each letter, each marker, number, verse and chapter to make sure that nothing had
been left out, changed, misprinted or added could not prevent the final print version still
containing some small errors.
It was at last in September 1990 that this Momogun Bible was finally printed and arrived in
Kudat in an edition of 5,000 copies. The Church in Wuerttemberg had provided the funds for
the printing run. The following sale of the Momogun Bible, at a price of six Ringgit per copy,
was used to establish a PCS Bible Fund.

In 1984, the PCS hymnbook was properly printed for the first time at the Kudat-based
printing firm Tan Enterprise, who successively reprinted it on several occasions, with a total
of more than 15,000 copies being printed.
In 1992, the same firm also printed the REGISTER OF ROOTS in the Rungus Dialect and an
ENGLISH-RUNGUS DICTIONARY, a History of Christianity worldwide and of the PCS
and, last but not least, some commentaries on parts of the Old and New Testament.
It should not be forgotten that, from 1957 onwards, the Sunday service programmes with texts
and an outline for the sermons, as well as the places of worship to be served by pastors and
lay preachers had been made by the printing office. In the beginning this booklet was
prepared monthly, and then later at six-week, eight-week and three-month intervals until it
was finally issued twice a year, with a total of five hundred copies printed for distribution to
all the lay helpers, preachers, team pastors and parsons. The edition for July-December 1993
was set using a computer for the first time and also printed by Tan Enterprise together with
lectures presented at various training courses.
Many attempts had been made, either by the Executive Committee or the various sections of
the church, to produce a church magazine or a newsletter about the PLA and the women's
contributions to Church work) To date, such efforts have not amounted to more than solitary
issues, as everyone in the congregation, church district and the various groups had more
important tasks to attend to than writing newsletters and the like.
The names of the people who carried out the mimeographing during these long years and up
until the present day were as follows: Osingko was the first to occupy this office, followed by
Ajadap for a short while, then Asun from Kodungkung , Masanduh Majupi, Majimil, Majatig,
Osingko again, Abui and Asung. Their work done at the headquarter without much attention
has contributed a lot towards the growth of PCS.

B. The Bible School in Bavang Gazo (written by Jensey)

Although there was no actual Bible School when the PCS started off, there had been various
Bible courses long before the Protestant Church was registered as the Protestant Church in
Sabah.
The early courses were organized by Pastor Honegger, who had started preaching the Gospel
to the Rungus people. At that time people were beginning to be able to recognize and
understand the letters of the alphabet. Majimil Tuorong and his father Tuorong bin Dato
Sobunal were the first to be able to identify the letters.
After this, the Momogun people accepted Christianity and developed rapidly, with many of
them wanting to be baptized. There were not enough teachers to teach and guide them all.
Therefore some younger men were called on to assist the missionaries. However, their
knowledge was of little use as the Momogun people could not read or write at that time.
Various courses were organized to deal with this problem.
A first weekly course to teach preaching began in June 1956.
This course was intended to prepare the lay preachers for leading Sunday worship. It began in
June 1956 and took place every Saturday morning to prepare for the following Sunday
service. After a midday meal the lay preachers marched off on foot to their respective
preaching places the following Sunday.
The first longer course began in September 1957 and went on until July 1959.
The people from the Basel Mission arranged another Bible course, which could only be
attended by those who could already read and write. The missionaries selected four
evangelists to attend this course in Sikuati, beginning in September 1957. The participants
were: Mr Manjimil Tuorong, Angkangon Mogupis, Diyun Madalag and Osuman from
Rampai. They all moved to Sikuati together with their families. The Basel Mission provided
for their upkeep, as they were not able to earn their own living during this time.
Initially, this course was only intended to last until the beginning of the next rice-planting
season at the end of June 1958, but it was in fact extended until to July 1959, making a total
of twenty months without any break or holiday. At that time Momogun people had no concept
of taking holidays.
The course functioned as follows:
Every Saturday afternoon, the evangelists went back to their own longhouse or to other
villages to lead the Sunday service the following day. At that time every village could only be
reached on foot and these visits involved a trip of up to six hours on foot each way.
The teaching began at 2PM on Monday when the evangelists were back in Sikuati from their
weekend duty. Teaching was not exclusively about the Bible. There was much discussion and
reporting about life and work in the longhouses, also covering the way in which
congregations should be guided and supervised, and how to reach people with the gospel.
From Tuesday to Saturday, lessons started at 7.30 AM and went on until noon. There was still
a need to improve reading and writing skills and working with numbers so as to be able to
count and write down the details of the Sunday collections. The main goal was to learn about
the story of Jesus and the Old Testament, while at the same time preparing a translation of it
into Momogun. In this way, by the end of the course a collection of fifty stories about Jesus
and fifty stories from the Old Testament starting from creation right up to the prophets was
compiled and ready for use. Every Thursday Pastor Haeusermann gave lessons in Malay and,
in the afternoon, Pastor Sigrist gave instructions on how to use tools for woodwork and
carpentry. The teaching on Saturday morning was concerned with preparing the sermons for
the following Sunday service and to learn and practise new hymns in the Momogun language.
While singing, people should also be able to understand the meaning of their hymns and how
they could tell of and celebrate Christian faith and life.
In this way, the knowledge of the evangelists grew day by day. Looking back, one has to say
that the outcome of this course was very positive. Two books about the gospel, a hymnbook,
the book of the Prophet Amos, the First Letter of St. Paul to the congregation in Corinth, the
First Thessalonians, First Timothy and quite a number of Psalms and prayers had been
completed by the end of the course.
The following course took place between April 1960 and July 1961:
This time fourteen people took part in the course, which was to some extent a repetition of the
first course, building on the foundations of its achievements. Besides Majimil, Diyun,
Angkangon and Osuman the other participants were as follows: Osingko Taganau, Mojukin
Gundorong, Alung Ganggang, Majaman Gombiluk, Daang and Totong from Lodung,
Asandul Kastum, Angatang Kadim, Mongolinsig Mongingkap and Abbah Mongimpal. Some
of them were married and had families, while others were still bachelors. The course started
off with the construction of a house for four families. The obtained knowledge of carpentry
during the previous course was very useful.
After having covered all the lessons and the material from the previous course, the biblical
teaching concentrated on the Gospel of St. Mark, the five important sermons of Jesus in the
Gospel of St. Matthew and the parables of the Gospel of St. Luke. Before the end of 1960, the
Momogun translation of St. Mark had been mimeographed and sold to any interested church
members who could certify their ability to read.
One problem came to light during this and other courses: concentrating on learning and
attending lessons all day long was almost beyond the capacity of adults who had only just
started formal learning. Some of the participants already considered themselves to be old and
incapable of learning new information. When still a child, one is ready and eager to accept
changes and adapt to them, such learning and understanding lessons. It was not their personal
talent or disposition that hindered them, but the fact that from childhood on they had never
had the opportunity to go to school.
Once the course had ended, the new building was dismantled and moved to Bavang Gazo to
provide a first shelter for the preparation of the Farm School at Bavang Gazo.
Further short courses between 1962 and 1964: During the following years, only short Bible
courses were held during the two to three months between harvest and the next rice-planting
season. These courses were mainly concerned with the preparation of sermons for the
congregations.
The two-month course in 1964 was attended by thirty lay helpers, all male, and was held at
Mile Two in Kudat. No women had as yet attended such meetings, as it was still tradition that
parents would not allow young women to go away from home and stay overnight.
During this course, it become known that God had opened some places for the spread of the
Gospel. Many people from the villages had come along and asked the Basel Mission to visit
them. At that time, Pastor Forschner was living in Kudat and was responsible for most of the
congregations, while Pastor Sigrist and Mr Staehelin were busy running the Farm School.
During discussions, the participants of this course were more and more concerned about the
new situation that many people from around Mompilis and Molongkolong, Pantai, Suangeloi,
Dalas, Mongkobou and other places in Bengkoka wished to hear the gospel. (>Read about the
outcome of these discussions in other parts of this history).
Bible School at Pantai, May 1965 to March 1967.
A Bible School was started at Pantai, as proclamation of the gospel had been requested for the
neighbouring villages of Pantai, so evangelists were needed to take on this task. Pastor Dilger,
who had moved to Pantai, started this school with local men in May 1965 and continued with
it up until March 1967, when he went on leave to Germany with his family. He was assisted
in his teaching by Osingko Taganau. Thirty men, both married and bachelors, attended this
school, among them Masanduh Majupih.
In March 1967, this Bible School moved to Kudat. Pastor Forschner took over and continued
with further translation work while working at the school, completing the Gospel of St.
Matthew and the Acts. Some of the participants had the opportunity to learn the English
language, which was taught by Mrs. Forschner. When Pastor Forschner left Sabah in
August1967, Pastor Dilger replaced him in Kudat and carried on with the Bible School until
1968.
Moving to Bavang Gazo.
Once the government of Sabah started withdrawing the missionaries’ working permits, the
school was moved to Bavang Gazo. The Farm School was converted into a Bible School with
Pastor Rennstich becoming head teacher of the school.
The students from the Pantai and Kudat schools went along to Bavang Gazo in Tinangol to
continue with their fourth year of study. A first and second year class was also started for
some students who had already had partial training, while others were called upon to take
over work in the church districts of Botition, Molongkolong, Nangko and other places.

The Closing of the Bible School in Tinangol

Once the pressure on the missionaries from the government reached its pinnacle and all
missionaries were required to leave in the course of 1972 and 1973, the school had to be
closed for some years due to the lack of teachers. The government suppressed Christianity
until all missionaries of the PCS had left the country.
In 1969, The BCCM, realising that there were hardly any teachers or pastors available to
teach in the PCS, started to help PCS with an open heart. Pastor Poong Shong Khon took over
the parish in Sikuati. Pastor Thu En Yu, who later became Bishop of the BCCM, was installed
in the parish of Tinangol, while Pastor Tong Far Dung started to work for the PCS in 1974.

The re-opening of the Bible School in Tinangol in 1976.

After the closure of the Bible School in 1973, the Executive Committee and the President
thought about how best to teach Christians and familiarize them with biblical knowledge. In
the end, the Executive Committee decided to re-open the school in September 1976, running
only a one-year course. Pastor Poong was to be head teacher, while others who had completed
their studies at Trinity College in Singapore were to assist him in giving lessons. Since
opening, the Bible School in Tinangol has become the main source of development for the
Protestant Church in Sabah.

Changing the school name

During 1986, the education committee of the PCS decided to change the name of the school,
which had been known as Sekolah Alkitab Tinangol (SAT) to Pusat Latihan Alkitab (PLA),
meaning “Learning Centre for the Bible”. The Committee also approved a second year course
in 1989 for students who had earlier successfully completed the first year. These former one
year students could come back for a second year. After some time it was also decided to let
students go into the second year directly after their first year’s study.

Quite a large number of graduates from the PLA have continued with further studies at STS
in Kota Kinabalu and have been promoted there to various academic grades. They are since
working full time for the PCS.

C. Native Voluntary Primary Schools in Lajong, Tinangol and Lodung (written by Chong
That Shung)
These schools were built during 1964 with funds from the Basel Mission. The (original) idea
was to open these schools as village schools, therefore they were given the name “Native
Voluntary Schools” or SRK (Sekolah Rendah Kampong). At that time, not a single Momogun
child had had the opportunity to go to school in his own village or nearby without having to
stay (overnight) in the hostel in Kudat or some other place. The Christians in the various
villages asked the Basel Mission for assistance in making/building schools for their children.
In answer to these requests, the Basel Mission provided the school buildings as well as
teachers’ quarters erected on land belonging to the Basel Mission and sent over a European
teacher to act as supervisor of these schools. As the Ministry of Education was against the use
of Momogun as the teaching language, the committee agreed unanimously to use the English
language.
The schools started with the new school year in January 1965. In Lajong, the school had to
start right away with two first-year classes and a second-year class with a total of 58 pupils.
67 pupils were registered in Tinangol and 83 pupils in Lodung, where there were also parallel
first and second (-year) classes. Mr Stettler from Switzerland acted as Principal and
supervisor of these three schools. After his term of office, Mr Werner Braun took over from
him in 1971. Both of them were concerned about the development of the school and
organized the necessary provisions and funds. And this has remained the same up to the
present day. After Mr. Braun left, Mr Chong That Shung, the former teacher in Lajong from
1965 onwards, took over the post of supervisor and continues to hold it at present. The
education committee of the PCS and the Village School Committee assisted Mr Chong in
organizing the schools. Parents and pupils helped the teachers to further develop schooling by
increasing the numbers of pupils, extending already existing school buildings and adding new
ones.
Following the Education Ordinance of Malaya of 1961, which was accepted by the State of
Sabah in 1969, the Malay language became the (official) language of primary teaching.
Together with this change, the schools also changed their name to Sekolah Rendah
Kebangsaan in 1974.
In 1989, two further teachers’ quarters were added at the Tinangol SRK. In 1990, six more
classrooms had to be built in Tinangol to accommodate the increased numbers of pupils. The
SRK Lajong received a further teachers'office and a store-room, financed by a government
fund of some 70,000 MR.
The school committee applied for six more classrooms in Lajong, as the old buildings were
decaying and there was no way of repairing them.
Today, in 1993, a total of 42 teachers are employed at these three schools, together with seven
caretakers, while 660 pupils of up to 99% Christian background attend the schools, with 158
pupils in Lajong, 337 pupils in Tinangol and 165 pupils in Lodung for classes one to six.

D. School for Domestic Science in Tinangol (SRT) (written by Lilah N. Gilong)

The committee of the Basel Mission had for a long time considered the opening of a School
for domestic science in Sikuati, but the Pastor stationed in Sikuati had spoken out against this
location, as the land around the station in Sikuati consisted of very poor soil, mostly sand,
unsuitable for gardening and planting vegetables. As a result, the pastors decided to only
organize such a school once they had a teacher with experience in the Sabah way of life.
When Miss Ernst arrived in Sabah, she stayed in Pantai for some time to gain experience, get
a feel for village life and to help her get to grips with the task and challenge of a school for
young girls who had not had any previous schooling.
The school aimed to provide teaching in reading and writing, housekeeping, health care and
to offer information on planting various vegetables and healthy cooking. With this plan in
place, the school was started up in 1965 with annual courses, continuing in this way up until
1969, after which Miss Kachel took over from Miss Ernst. Kachel stayed on until the
withdrawal of her working permit in 1974.
As of 1975, Lilah Nancy Gilong headed the school and was aided by some other assistants up
until 1993.
The school was organized in the following way: The girls had to be at least fifteen years old
and were required to pay 20 MR school fees per year. The girls also had to pay half of the
costs of the materials used during the year. If a girl left before the end of the year, the family
had to compensate for the empty place with either 40 MR or one bag of rice. At the end of
each month, the girls were allowed to go home for two to three days, while girls coming from
nearby villages were also able to go home on Sundays. On Sundays, the school attended the
church service in Tinangol, went to various villages near Tinangol with the District pastor or
the evangelist. At the end of each year’s course there was an excursion to the National Park at
the Kinabalu, to Ranau and the Hot Springs before returning to their own villages.
The main subjects of teaching and learning were: Sewing, embroidering, crocheting, baking,
cleaning, health care, reading and writing, house work and planting vegetables. The courses
also included familiarizing oneself with various diseases and prophylactic measures.
During these 27 years of SRT, some of the annual courses were attended by more than twenty
students, whereas some had only sixteen or seventeen students.

E. The PCS Hostels (written by Mojuntin Bongkol)

As has already been mentioned above concerning the beginning of the hostel work, it was
clear by the end of the Sixties that girls who had completed primary education wished to
continue their schooling at High School or Middle School. Kudat had such schools, therefore
the PCS discussed the matter and agreed to provide housing for the girls. The BCCM offered
to rent out a former school building of the Lok Yuk School to the PCS to serve as a temporary
girls’ hostel. As far as hostel wardens were concerned, it had already been decided to have
two people trained in this capacity. The idea was to send these people to a school for wardens
belonging to the Kindernothilfe in India, but nothing came of this plan as the Indian
government refused to issue the necessary visas. Therefore Jimmy Asam and Mariam
Majaman went to Trinity College in Singapore, despite the fact that Trinity College offered
no training course for hostel wardens. They had to attend the Christian Education study
courses. Once these studies were completed, Jimmy took charge of the Hostel in Mile Two,
while Mariam took over the temporary hostel at the Lok Yuk School.
It was not until 1979 that a girls Hostel was built at Mile Two, with grants from the
government providing lodging for one hundred and fifty girls. The BCCM had already
considered further assistance towards the housing of students and had built a hostel near the
Lok Yuk School for eighty boys. Teachers from Lok Yuk living near this hostel were to look
after it. The BCCM was even prepared to pay for the provision of some of the most needy
boys with food, clothing, school fees and books. After some time, the BCCM felt that it
would be better if the PCS were to take over the organisation of this hostel, as there had been
various misunderstandings between Momogun boys and Chinese teachers. From then on, PCS
wardens and the head warden were also responsible for this hostel, named Asrama Basel.
Although the PCS put a great deal of effort into providing lodging places for all children
entering middle school and high school, there were never enough places for them all, so a
decision was taken during the synod 1978 to build a longhouse at Mile Two to serve as an
additional home for eighty students who had enough support from their families to provide
for themselves. PCS only paid for water and electricity, while food, school uniform and fees
had to be financed by their own families. The parents of these children collected the timber of
this longhouse. The planks and the roof were provided by the PCS. This longhouse was in use
for more than ten years with changing occupants until it was so dilapidated that it could no
longer be used. Funds from the Basel Mission allowed it to be replaced with a new building,
called Asrama Baru (New Hostel).
As the number of students increased over the years, Kindernothilfe in Duisburg (KNH) was
prepared to increase its support for even more students, up to a maximum of 237 students.
(when KNH aid started, the school boys were called foster children because they were
sponsored by so-called foster parents in Germany). Later on, this support was given for hostel
work in general, rather than distinguishing between supported and non-supported students.
While in the early days of hostel work each student had to write an annual report to his foster
parents, later on there were only summary reports about the hostels and the use of KNH
funds.
In 1982 another hostel was built and put into service at Kota Marudu. It was called Asrama
Geneva, because the World Council of Churches had provided the funds to cover building
expenses and the running costs for the first five years. There was lodging space for up to 72
students, divided equally between male and female students, with a common kitchen and
dining area. As far as this hostel was concerned, it must be said that the building was planned
and constructed in a most unsuitable way. Being a long building stretching from North to
South, the early morning sun hits the brick wall on the Eastern side, while in the early
afternoon the Western brick wall is exposed to extreme sunshine, making the inside like a
smoking cell for rubber.. On top of this, the very small windows were placed rather high
under the roof and therefore do not provide sufficient air circulation. The land on which the
hostel was built was part of the garden belonging to the BCCM parsonage. A rather one-sided
agreement between the local BCCM and PCS says that the hostel would become the property
of the BCCM after twenty years.
In 1987, the government started a middle school in Pitas. The PCS therefore sought land on
which another hostel could be built for the Momogun students attending this new school., It
was only possible to find a suitable site some three kilometer away. Basel Mission provided
funds for the building, which was constructed by Mogimbang from Tangkarason. From the
very start, the attendance of the students living in this hostel in Pitas fluctuated greatly, as
these students had to come from very remote places, places which could often be reached
only by boat via the Bengkoka river, or not at all due to floods or droughts. In other cases, the
families could not provide for the students during the seasons after a bad harvest. These
students had to bring their own rice and food while the PCS was only able to pay for the
warden, the water supply and kerosene for the lamps.
As soon as the middle school at Pinavantai was opened, the PCS opened a temporay hostel
there in longhouse style, providing space for sixty students and a warden to organize the
hostel. In 1990, the roof of the hostel was blown off and the rest of the building was badly
damaged by a typhoon. A new hostel was built by the Honourable Member of the State
Assembly of Sabah and Minister of Sports, Matius Majihi. However, when a further middle
school was opened in Sikuati near the sea, the Pinavantai school was closed down and the
students were sent to Sikuati.
So it came about that in 1992, the PCS provided a further hostel for Momogun students at the
parsonage of Sikuati. With the opening of this middle school, many students who had started
in Kudat and had stayed in one of the PCS Kudat hostels, Duisburg or Titiu, from then on
moved to the Sikuati school, with the advantage that they now could live in the village and
attend school from their home. Only some of them stayed at the PCS Sikuati hostel. They still
had a much shorter journey to Sikuati from their village than travelling in stages all the way
to Kudat or back home. The Sikuati hostel was able to be built with funds from the
government. Only the kitchen was paid for by the Basel Mission on special request.
In the year 1993 there were the following numbers of students in PCS hostels:
In the girls’ hostel Titiu at Kudat Headquarters 90 young women and girls
In the “Duisburg” hostel at KM 4 at Kudat HQ 85 boys and young men
In the “Basel” hostel near Lok Yuk School Kudat 60 boys
In the Sikuati hostel 95 boys and girls
In the “Geneva” hostel at Kota Marudu 72 boys and girls
In the Pitas hostel 60 boys and girls
In 1961, the Kindernothilfe in Duisburg (Children's aid work in Duisburg),KNH, had started
to support the hostel work because of a very poor harvest and had since continued to support
more and more primary school children, later on students of the middle and high schools. The
KNH committee decided to streamline its work early in the 1990ties, which by then had
expanded all over the world., Supervision of this work had become rather complicated. On
account of this decision support for the PCS hostels was to be cut by the end of 1993.,They
wanted to concentrate their efforts)in fewer countries with many hostels requiring aid. KNH
also felt that, after more than thirty years of support and aid for the PCS, life in Sabah and the
situation of the PCS must have improved to the point that PCS was capable of finding its own
means of running the hostels. Parents should also be more able to support the students. The
prospect of this cut in aid put PCS in a difficult situation. In the end, from 1991 onwards it
was arranged that each student should contribute some 25 MR per month to the hostel’s
expenses. Despite this arrangement, the hostels still face difficulties today in collecting these
hostel fees. Many families are still in no position to pay this amount in cash, as the earnings
from the farms barely amount to such a sum, especially considering the low prices for rubber
and copra.